©Jason I. Stutz 2019
The fires raged. The tree tops communicated a fiery network of distress. One tree, left alone by the developer’s sword, watched as the others all burned, hemorrhaging tears.
Adam and Eve embraced under the canopy of flames, unaffected by heat or smoke. Their nakedness reflected the reds and oranges all around them, dancing like colorful shadows playing on the screen of their skin. “Hold me,” they said, wordlessly, in unison, to each other.
The koala’s fur lit and it squealed in pain. The birds, like cinders flew up and dropped as burning coals into ash on the already caked forest floor, their songs complete. And the trees, screeching fire, lit the sky from below, who turned his shoulder and couldn’t watch, having nothing, not enough, no moisture, no clouds as far as he could feel, not a mist of rain to supply the rapidly diminishing forest. Even if he cried, his tears would be made of dust. Adam and Eve held each other, hearts embracing as their bodies held each in each others’ arms. “Until it’s gone, hold me,” they said.
Stutz's Fairy Tales and Poems 