The Great Fire in the Sky
A snapshot moment during a mass extinction.
Wake up, wake up!
We must take our leave.
The sky is red with fire;
It's getting hard to breathe.
-
It isn't that simple,
You must understand.
To nurture these eggs,
I must stay where I am.
-
There is no time to wait,
Please come with me, my dear.
More eggs, they will come,
Should we survive through this fear.
-
If we are doomed to die
We may as well stay,
For there's not much to live for
Should their lives go away.
-
Don't make me decide
Between life with or without
I refuse to make choices
Through the shadows of doubt.
-
Then leave me behind
And don't shed a tear,
For this is my choice
And yours seems quite clear.
-
I refuse to forget
The life that we made.
But the fire approaches;
I've no courage to stay.
-
Remember this moment,
When push comes to shove.
If you survive the fallout,
You left the ones whom you loved.
-
The smoke is encroaching,
The forest, it sings,
My foot pads are burning,
I wish I had wings
-
My legs, they do carry
As fast as they can,
But exhaustion overtakes me,
Not much longer, I can stand.
-
Upon looking back,
I watch the lava approach,
Destroying the nest,
Where my family took post.
-
Tripping over the landscape,
Too rugged and worn,
As the fire approaches,
I'm not without scorn.
-
For this is the end,
And I left those whom I loved.
For nothing I stand for,
As the fire catches up.
-
It's the end of an era,
It's the end of it all,
Should anything survive,
Pray for peace, for us all.
About the Creator
Ashley Lima
I think about writing more than I write, but call myself a writer as opposed to a thinker.
Reader insights
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Compelling and original writing
Creative use of language & vocab
Excellent storytelling
Original narrative & well developed characters
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Easy to read and follow
Well-structured & engaging content
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More stories from Ashley Lima and writers in Poets and other communities.
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By Cathy Schieffelin5 days ago in Humor
Comments (17)
Congratulations on your top story ! I felt every word! I could see the lava, the fire, the despair
Congrats on Top Story! :)
Excellent entry Ash!! 😁 Great job on your top story too.
I feel sad for the dinosaurs!! Great rhymes and congrats on a well deserved TS!! 💕🥳. Great job- unique voice telling how it ends.
Wonderful poem, congratulations on top story!
Wow. That was incredible, Ashley. Congrats on the TS.
Fantastic rhymes and congrats on the Top Story!!!💕❤️❤️
Beautifully written, Ashley! I love this take on the dinosaur's perspective! Heartfelt. ❤️ Congrats on top story!!
congrats on TS. This was truly brilliant. sad and yet epitomizes the emotions in so many of us. Excellent writing.
Ooof. Abandoment in the worst possible sense, and all for naught. Well writ, Ashley!
This was heartbreaking. Writing the internal struggle of the dinosaur made this especially painful. What a remarkable poem! Congrats on the Top Story!
Congratulations on Top Story! 🥳 Wouldn't it be amazing if peace won the day?! If only!!!
profound themes of love, sacrifice, and resilience. nice
I hope we learn from the dinos, are we making plans for such an event. Where will our fallout shelter be. Much to think about.
This feels representative of that internal argument we all go through when we consider leaving those we love behind (whether others, or parts of ourselves). And how staying to persuade them only secures our fate to be the same as theirs, rather than helping them to survive with us. There are a lots of strong messages of truth in this 👌🙏
I'm glad you decided to rejoin this crazy pack of scribblers. I like how you did this from a dino's pov.
Welcome back! Great poem