The Ember

 [Prologue]
A lonely passerby 
Wanders through an open field
With an endless dark sky
And here
He feels at one with Earth
Away from all worldly troubles
And other-worldly troubles
He closes his eyes 
And slowly begins to think
About life and what it means
For himself and others
And how people mesh...

Silently
He reaches for the cigarettes in his pocket
And slowly pulls one out
Gently
But deliberately
Lights it
And loses himself in nature
The nature that surrounds him

The sickly-sweet smoke
Ravages the cigarette
Depositing ash and ember upon the ground
The embers quickly light the field
He slowly walks away

[Main Story]
The field left burning
A strong contrast to
The cool
Clean
Crisp night air
The fire
Controllable
Slowly burns the field
Consuming grass
Flower
Weed alike
All as one
All as one

Yet soon the fire spreads
It leaps from blade to blade
Leaving a trail of black
Burned and dead
Lit only by the continuing deadly flame

And quicker yet
The faster it spreads
The faster it spread
It takes over new land
Which in turn takes over new land
A never ending cycle
Each pulling deeper and deeper

The neighbors are alerted
Finally
Uncontrollable flames grow ever close
Poised to consume plant and animal 
Living and non-living
Aware and unknowing
Alike

Help arrives
The damage has already been done
Time will ensure that the flames trails
Will not be in vain
But will instead give new
Healthy life
But the living still live
In an eternal torture
How eternal?

A large crowd has drawn at this point
The two groups easy to see
Those who simply stare
And feel nothing
Maybe awe
And do nothing
Perhaps because...
They don't know what to do?
How did this happen?
How?
How?
How?...

Why?

Then there are those poised to take action
Their sorrow feeds the spigots that douse the flame
The flame slowly regresses
A white flag fashioned 
From the bodies here consumed
Slowly
Slowly
Slowly
Hour after
Hour after
Hour
The flames are pushed back
And prevented from more damage
Nothing but the wisps of smoke
Exist to remind of what once was
Along with the charred
Black
Dead ground
Yet all is well
All is good
The thick black smoke
Chokes out the beautiful sunrise
In the Eastern Sky

Time will show the dawn
Time will show the dawn

[Epilogue]
The ground
Still black
And burned
And charred
And smoking
Silently smothers the outside
Searching for another victim fool source
A way to continue its
Bittersweet path of destruction cyclical giving

Alas
A spark
A re-ignition
Contained within the cold
Wet ground