"It's
Elemental"
Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
November 25th, 10:45 a.m. pst
Air
The air surrounds us, filling the atmosphere around the globe on which
we live.
We breathe the air.
It lifts our lungs, and permeates us with the sacred breath of life
The air is filled with life
Bacteria which helps to combat other
more insideous forms
Sometimes these more harmful forms overrule
and scatter death through the air
Life, death, the cycle neverending
The air brings us weather patterns
Patterns which speak to us with their
regularity and permanence
Until the next sudden storm
teaches us that our very existence
can be extinguished
by the
very
air
that
we
breathe
Earth
The earth expands before us, giving us a place to live
and imbuing us with sustenance and nourishment
We till the earth
We plant our food, the very provender of our lifestyle
We feast, and grow, and multiply
The spirit of the earth grows and moves,
Changing ever so slowly as to be imperceptable
And we scatter to the ends of the earth
Sometimes the earth is more suddenly active
and cracks and crevices appear and
swallow the very life
that
exists
by it's
canyons
and
on it's
fields
Water
Water flows around the earth,
Slaking our thirst and pouring
into our bodies, extending our survival
interacting with our very molecules
a substance of which we are made
and which makes us drink heartily
We base our transportation
and our economy on water
the waterwheels of society
turn faster and faster
Rain falls from the sky
and fills us
Yet these rains can
flood our earth and drown
our progeny and possibility
The very water
which sustains us
can
serve
to quench our
life as well
as thirst
Fire
Fire warms and comforts us
And energy is consumed and exhumed
by it's fickle embers
Fire, captured and kindled
unleashes great burning desires
and causes our cold winters
to become more bearable
Fire tamed and tortured
helps mold our very cities and
give us unparalleled growth
as people
Sometimes fire burns out of control
and no amount of water can
end it's marching fury
Carried on the wind and
settling on the land
it burns everything in it's path
The very warmth
that comforts
causes burning
calamity
and
death
Although man may sometimes
seem judgemental
Air, earth, fire, and water stay wildly elemental
Poetry
2005
