Only the ash is seen here.
As the fires burn, the heat is miles away
And the city is covered in ash.
In an instance I am in my home,
Watching ash fall.
Trickling down all around me.
Red skies, purple suns.
Our city burns yearly.
The outskirts of here, where I was birth in,
The fires come always on time.
When the energy of my rising sign
Makes itself felt,
The self-analyzing, fair and wise
Eyes of the Virgo always burn the land.
Her powers of critical analysis are
Crucial.
More humans born under her sign
Than any others.
More critical analyzers than bystanders.
More opportunity to connect to the healing opportunities.

I am brought back to my home town,
To schools closed, to hours in front of the news.
Disbelief in the air, death in the air.
Pieces of beings that grew before I was born.
Before my debut, these beings were here
Caring for the environment that I would need.
They seeded the land that birthed me.
Now I breath in their core.
Their bark feels nourishing in my lungs.
The smell always alerts me.
You know when trees are burning,
Their essence released on the wind.

Each year it burns here, change and death
The only two guarantees.
I can feel how my skin felt in these days,
My bones were growing.
They were stretching faster than my skin
And my hips tell the story.
My thoughts were grim,
Dimmed by ashes encircling me.
In the middle of things burning.
Energy of new.
The blackened ground is ripe for new.
I wanted new so bad back then.
New home, new environment.
I seemed to desire for my world to burn to ashes.
Somehow aware of the potential in them.

Sitting here now, I think of my home.
Before my children were born, before I knew who I was.
Curious then, always asking the questions
To know.
Though, it wasn’t time then.
My self-discovery was found, digging through the ashes.
Knuckles raw and grey,
And nails strong. My nails have always grown strong.
So the stripping just happened.
I was given the tools.

I explain to my daughter that
Many things will be lost.
Many lives will end, sacrificed to the ground.
Their resting position, their path to rebirth.
I tell her that things will change,
And after a period of rest a whole new forest
Will appear.
We will watch it grow over the years
And marvel at its strength and pure stamina to be.
The nutrition that this life grows from,
The darkest moments of this lands time,
Sprouts vigorous beings, built on burnt ground.
Founding layers formed from painful death.
I whisper to her, never be scared of these things.
Move when needed, change. Though,
Darling child, fear will only keep you from
Recognizing that the rain will come.
Seeds not even seen in these parts will come.
The fire will eventually be remembered as a blessing here.
So focus on this my dear, and
When you find yourself engulfed in ashes
Just hold your breath.
Just wait for the winds to change
And the rain to come and cool the scorched skin.
And be prepared with your arms wide
For the new.  It will come with healthier fruits than before,
Growing with anticipation for you to harvest them.
They will bring forth the energy you need,
Be aware daughter, life is always rising.