#1: Fire
Because fire warms
& is the strength of the sun
that ultimately nurtures everything,
if relationships are elemental,
then love is best expressed
as fire
& must be fed,
even as it feeds us.
#2: Earth
Matrix of all living,
she is the dust rolled into
the shape of the first man
& the holder of his bones
but, remember this:
she, who spins so subtly
beneath our feet
& holds us fast to her breast
in an invisible embrace
of infinite tolerance
is in reality a sleeping giant
who, with one unthinking shrug
can level cities
#3: Air
This, the exhalation of our planet
stroking skin
& playing games
with hair
arcing above us
unspeakably blue
& beyond any touching,
can also swaddle us in the softest cotton
or give us glimpses
of an endless night
punctuated with clusters
of burning suns.
This breath that gives life
can, in a deeper sigh
of exasperation,
twist into tornadoes
& hurricanes,
shift from substrate
to menace
in an instant.
4: Water
Water returns to water.
atoms rearrange,
moving above & through
the ground we stand on,
falling gently on upturned faces
& leaves, steam or fog
flowing from the earth
on nights when the air
is colder than the soil
it rests its cheek upon;
these same currents
stream through our bodies
beneath skin,
as within us
the same cycle repeats:
water returns to water,
atoms rearrange.
****I decided to combine all 4 short poems into 1 longer poem, composed of 4 parts that can stand equally on their own. Hope you like!
Susan Daniels Poetry 
Like? this beautiful, awesome and am still struggling with goose pimples after the first read and savour> You write beautiful songs and this treatment of the elements containing so many levels and layers of meanings is sweet to taste! when are you publishing?
Noel, my SM and co-inspiration, you are as always so generous in your support & encouragement of my words from a throat rusty from misuse (I think I see another co-written poem in there, if you are interested…..), all I can do is thank you (sending you a big mental hug). As to when am I publishing, I have to reestablish those old links I had 17 years ago, or find new ones!
throats never rust, wells never run dry all wait the call of the season, rthe internal stirring, the stimulus outside, the connection and the dammed subterranean waters surge forward and liberate the messanger, the medium and the song is both release and reward, reward for the seed carried and faith kept
Lovely! I think I am going to paste that as your intro 🙂 more coming later!
wonderful!! Love the way you described the elements!
thank you 🙂
great idea
Thank you–really enjoyed grouping them together!
birth, life, death, mother as nature, promises of life and death with equal indifference, hope….you’ve hit it all Susan. equally beautiful as it is terrifying; the power.
Thanks Rhonda–the tenderness mixed with threat in equal measure 🙂
yes….and perfectly reflected in your series!
Susan, delightful! Each of these does stand on its own, but they work beautifully together. I like how you pay each its due – and reflect on the human world, our interaction with the elements.
Richard
Thank you, Richard–I enjoyed these, and halfway through I thought about putting them together 🙂
Glad it worked!
You spin magic carpets with words~Fondly Deborah
What a beautiful thing to say–Thanks for flying with me tonight 🙂