Beauty Flares
A poem by Barb Christing

Beauty Flares

thunder rolls across bloated skies
bones rattle and moan
‘til pain shoots through grays
a lightning strike
that rebukes defense
ignites a fire that rages
blows wild, untamed
its heat blisters all life
turns gnarled bark
to glowing embers

beauty flares ‘til
limbs collapse
consumed
transformed to ash

then silence holds the space
as light splashes upon ground
long starved of sun’s warmth
seedlings stretch and grow
expand their lungs to breathe
and take their place in the
nourished soil where the
mighty oak once
laid down roots

About the Author:

Barb Christing is the author of the children’s picture book African Heartbeat, published by World Vision. Her work appears in Birding, MomSense, and Western Alumni Gazette. She was the Director of World Wildlife Fund’s Bohorok River Visitor Center, in Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia, where she worked on rehabilitating orangutans, and herself. She currently lives in the Appalachian Mountains with her husband Adam and their self-sustaining silk plants.

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