Midsummer's fires

Midsummers day

longest day of the year 

for some the sun does not set

one day melts into the next

as it were all one..

Midsummers day

the longest day for some

as they sift through the ashes

of charred homes and hopes

one stands alone..

Far away they celebrate, 

fires under a midnight sun..

closer to our forest, we mourn

as a scent of unwelcome fires

smoke the mountain air..

Scorched bark and ashes

paint the landscape black 

though this tall majestic forest 
never earned it's name from
such a fire’s attack..

-RL