Burned-black crater, half moon of pain amidst desert sands
Somewhere along the riverbank water turns to fire and burns
No memory of the beginning, only the mid-time flames erupting
Licking edges already blackened by the memory of a lost past.
Days gone, spent in ignorance of the coming hellfire
Playing amidst the cool waters, waiting for the shoreline to empty.
Steam-scorched riverbanks mud-streaked with pain
In emptiness lie the footprints of possibility—
Wind already blowing sand to fill them in
Doorways to nothing closed before the pathway through ever existed.

Original Photography