Fascinating Fire

Fierce, fascinating fire
A hero's flame
A dragon tamed
A flickering, flashing song
Intense, triumphant joy

Within the cauldron--cheers
Within the engine--power
And on the hearth it warms
Fierce, fascinating fire

But let it break the boundary wall
Trip a delicate, wavering toe
Out onto the dry, brown grasses
A city wails
Their effort fails
An all-destroying roar
And the smell of death and ashes!

For the Sunday Scribblings Prompt: Fire!

Trees

Last Sunday, when I mentioned to a gentleman at church that I frequently walk past his house in order to stare at a large tree in a nearby lot, he told me that behind his house, tucked away in a cul-de-sac and screened by the backs of several ordinary little homes, stood a massive native elm tree--who knows how old? The branches of this tree, he assured me, were as big as ordinary trunks, and the trunk was, he thought, too big for any two people to reach around.

Of course I had to go see it.

The grandchildren were visiting, so that made a good excuse to pack up my camera and go. Sure enough, there it was:  a very impressive tree.  We took a few pictures, then detoured home so we could visit the goats and the llamas.