Children of Fire

You in flesh, a print of here and now,

then, in the unfathomable abyss of time,

Lucifer spread in chaos and motion,

in flight, turbulence, and drift,

seeds of your clan, kinship and blood,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

The remnants of dark masses collapsed,

you were a wayfarer, and a wanderer,

destined by pull of forces unknown,

streaming the planks of the milky way,

wayward to the sun and alpha-centauri,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

You were quanta of golden light,

unaware, tumbling and afloat,

bending to the wish of giant clouds,

yielding to the winds of gravity,

ever running, ever moving, ever lost,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

Heeding the irresistible pull about,

you headed down to this earth,

to mother your seeds and germs,

to be tethered, nourished, and fed,

to be lassoed in her warm womb,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

You brought rhythms of up and down,

quivering as sharp as a metronome,

the solid to liquid, and the vapor to ice,

the rhythms to virus, and the virus to worm,

the worm to snake, and the snake to bird,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

Puddles to ponds, and lakes to seas,

Hills, and valleys to giants in stone.

vapors to floods and floods to monsoon,

giant sycamores, from little seeds,

plains and plateaus to luscious green,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

You are the swarm of bees with honey,

the flock of geese in white and blue,

the melange of algae and lichen on the tree,

the running herds of giraffe and caribou,

waves of white sheep on the plateau,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

Pouring the magic wine into the cup,

you wrote the script for the new life,

agitated the germ and egg to a broil,

mingled the soup of life to a bowl,

to the wager of fortune and doom,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

Blood, and brain, bosoms, and lips,

to spell the travails of heart, and love,

hope, and joy, sadness, and pain,

here, and now, heaven, and hell,

to burn a heart into ashen soot,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

Threading the landscape of love,

you hear the melody of gods,

you ride the beasts of heaven,

feel frenzy with flowers and smile,

you depart with sorrow and pain,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

You burn the lover’s heart to an ore,

brain to a cacophony of hurt and sore,

keenness and logic to a mushy bore,

with madness and chaos you score,

with the satan and devil you demur,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

Crazed in images of utter loss,

you set the heart and mind ablaze,

the candle wax and wick to a weep,

you make the light of day to dark,

you bring the stubborn iron to a melt,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

Setting bonfires and volcanoes adrift,

you burn the forest to the ground,

boil as earth from within with rage,

you hear all its tremble and moan,

until the sun appears in the clouds,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

You rain on the forest with joy,

ushering the rainbow from the clouds,

you are the purifier of the soul,

the beacon of lovers’ hope and call,

you bring the dead to life in all,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

Giving the man of camel the word,

you give the finger of Moses the flame,

aurora borealis, the magic of the same,

cleaning fire, water, earth and air,

you sermon by the bonfires long,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

You are the master of the page,

the art and beauty of the rainbow,

twist numbers and digits to play,

circuits to sing, and robots to dance,

atoms to crash, and, sorcery to display,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

You are Beethoven, cantata and the reed,

Mozart, bassoon, and the bell,

Sebastian, grand-partita, and the ode,

the chorus, the symphony and the frogs,

the howl of the hyenas and the wind,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

Mesmerized by the melodies untold,

deafened by the cacophony of desire,

tossed and tumbled in merging fevers,

searching for a lost sanguine heart,

in chorus with the ballads of old,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

You in flesh, a print of here and now,

then, in the unfathomable abyss of time,

Lucifer spread in chaos and motion,

in flight, turbulence, and drift,

seeds of your clan, kinship and blood,

you children of fire, yet unborn!

Hooshang Hemami, May 10, 2003