The World On Fire

The World On Fire

Fire burns, raging in the night
A touch of death, a touch of blight
Burning across the valley and hill
Unceasing, never ending still
But this flame burns unseen,
Only leaving death where it has been
First a small market, but spreading out
The smallest whisper to loudest shout
It took the city, the province, the country
And took wings, far as eye could see
Set sail across the seven seas to land
Reaching out with blazing hand
Another land, another place, more dead
This spectre at the feast, portent dread
Pandora’s box, opened, it was set free
And now it is communities that flee
The horse of the invisible, riding forth
To East and West, to South and North
With fear and trembling in its wake
Relentless, onwards, without break
And when night falls, moonlight shines
A shadow cast of dark designs.