Forest Fire

Photo by Jake Weirick on Unsplash

Like an astronaut,
earth strapped to my back,
launched at the teeming abyss,

I stepped forward,
floating, for a moment,
between the slope and the trees,

flying eye-level
with the summer pines,
toward the wall of fireflies —

pulsing stars,
like the shimmering sparks
of a hidden forest fire.