Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 44 No. 5. March 30 1981
Grassfire
Grassfire
It only took seconds, the end
Of fieldgrass teeming: it was a spark
On the hillsides, a firetongue
That began as a tease to the cogon maddened by summer.
Gusts swept in, swishing through
The blades: then the fury
Became unquenchable fire
Leaping up to the trees.
Black and white were the billows
Taking the place of clouds, as flames
Spindled and swooshed across the fields
Turning carbon desolate,' a blighted land
More wasted, serer than before.
The raging curse smouldered
All in its path, until a mutual farewell
Crackled between grass and thatch;
Charred, in no time, was the stonewall
Bounding the world where I stood.
And the grassfire sputtered out, yet I
Continued to feel the whole season's heat
Upon my face, and in my eyes
Where I stood inside the cell.
Edgar Maranan