The Purging~ the conflagration of nature

by Royal Rhodes
     
They burn at night
the hostage land,
the brushwood bunched
on the open prairie,
committing an act
of civic arson.
Dripping torches
swung in arcs
spewing liquid
make oily ribbons
ascend like rockets
into the starred sky.
They strip the cover
from the earth, matted
with winter debris.
The inferno's agents
in yellow jumpsuits
walk no-man's land 
with terrorist gestures..
Rabbits frantic
with singed skin
dart in confused
circles, and death
licks blood
in lambent flames.
When "the world is coal,"
just contrite ashes,
and your flesh incense,
I can see only
the thirsty fire,
and the burning hot house,
the burning, the burning.