Saint Helens

With apocalyptic roar and the sound Of the fifth angel’s trumpet, this star’s fall From heaven collaps’d the volcanic north Face, releasing in pyroclastic flow Roiling, rumbling, demonic spirits, Dwellers of the Abyss, vaporizing Instantaneously man, deer and bird, Blotting the sun, with roiling death’s ash clouds. Today, this scene, once hosting Cascadian Armageddon, now quiet, as the new Heaven and earth reclaim sanctuary Where thrush and grouse hide, deer and elk wander Feeding ‘midst heather and lupine. Life does Recover her tenuous hold on earth. Written May 18, 2016, the 36th Anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens