Smoke

A smear of grey across the sky

A warning in the distance

An indecipherable alarm

And there we stood, our mouths agape

The deer caught in the headlights

Our minds adrift and far from harm

Smoke on the horizon

Can the flames be far behind?

We run for cover, but it's too late

We are engulfed, we are

The smoke on the horizon

Nothing ventured, nothing lost

We paid the price, but at what cost?

We sold our future to the past

Accept a necessary doom

Too easily and way too soon

Ignore the wisdom we amassed

A smudge of ash across the ground

An undelivered message

All that remains is memory

A gust of wind across the plains

Carries away the remnants

Into forgotten history