Sonnet for Firefighters - A Poem of Honor

After the Mountain Fires in

Boulder and Loveland, Colorado

I was inspired by the stories of

The Heroism and the Compassion

The finding of pets and the tremendous Loss

With tears, I wrote

the Poem you see below

Postscript - And anew in the summers of 2012 and 2013, the fires bear down upon the Colorado hills. Such loss of life and of property; yet look at all that is saved.

Poetry copyright Mindy Makuta (aka MyFairLadyah) Reprint/Reuse with permission

And the ones they leave at home

Rest thee quiet my lovely angel sweet

I'm hacking lines up in the ashen hills

Defending homes from the fire's angry teeth

Though it be blazing hot, many have chills

I am safe, supported by my brothers

Who shoulder well their heavy fighting gear

Amidst that rubble, I'd have no others

Trust in them as I do, my darling, dear

Should thee spy flames within the smoky breach

Say a silent prayer for what has been lost

I shall be battling that which I can reach

Stomping what erupts from red embers tossed

Be doubly strong my lovely angel sweet

For I have sworn this inferno defeat

Week of September 6, 2010

The first day, my husband smelled smoke in the house. At about 10:30am, we walked outside, I saw the dark smoke over my Boulder, Colorado home with uncanny Blue Skies to the North and South

Later that day and for the remainder of that week I watched the air tankers and water helicopters lift up from Wonderland Lake in North Boulder to go West. To save the homes of my neighbors and my friends.

On the second day the ash was heavy in the City of Boulder but not as heavy as Our Hearts.

On the ground hundreds of volunteer and paid firefighters worked in the heat of the day and the darkness of the night to quell the stubborn embers and save what they could.

My YMCA was a Shelter and a Clearing House of Food, Clothing and Information for the Evacuees.

That Thursday night, the winds were forecast to increase .... And they did. My neighborhood was on evacuation alert. My husband and I prepared to leave. We took a walk during what seemed like gale force winds. We watched the news and the weather. Thank goodness for us the winds died down and spared my neighborhood.

I was reminded of the lovely violin piece Ashokan Farewell which was composed by Jay Ungar in 1982. It was later used as the title theme of the 1990 Civil War PBS documentary. This music is a violin work in the style of a Scottish lament. In the PBS documentary it is played during the reading of an actual letter from the battlefield of a Civil War soldier, Sullivan Ballou, to his wife Sarah, the woman he loved and left behind.