Normal

This isn’t
Normal.

Blue shadows, orange light
A sun like an eclipsed moon

The rays dim, yet on one’s back,
The warmth as of fire at camp

All that you can smell, is smoke,
And it fills your nose and sinuses

It is in your lungs and occupies every sensation
It enters the blood and leaves one

Feeling uneasy, uncalm, poisoned
It is the reek of danger, of destruction, of imminent death

Smoke like this encompasses a catastrophe
And yet for six weeks, it has lived with us

Uninvited, while we walk, while we sleep, while we eat
whiles away life, eats at joy

Now, the winds have come
And brought the promised change

A bit of rain, clear air,
And views of distant peaks, mountain-sides

And trees green and an air of freshness
So remembered as to be unfamiliar

In the vision sharp, and cloud white
And blue is blue and I find myself

Pondering now, the ecstasy of the normal
As I walk the dog down the street,

In the evening, my small town
With normal gratefully, no longer normal.