Healing

Landscape—Scene from "Thanatopsis" 1850 Asher Brown Durand

Sometime after the fire
After the hurricane ripped open the sky
After the bullets scattered the briar
After the smoke burnt my eye

Reality came back and I was sat by a tree
Around me, smoke carried the shrieks into the clouds.
But all was still as far as we could see
And then, we’re supposed to rejoin the crowds.

Normal seemed flat and broken and absurd.
But the river flowed on and so did I.
And then one day a smile returned.
Maybe healing, maybe a lie.