Smoke in the Valleys

Smoke in the valleys ...
more War-Lords gathering;
ships from the other side of the sun;
sudden migrations; whole cities dying;
armies of preachers babbling in tongues.
None of us, at peace in these mountains,
are above these things or beyond their touch
(the snowline bleeds with smoke and dust).
There's a restlessness at the heart of matter,
a thin bleak nomad who rules within ...
We fear him even here, his anger,
his grim refusal to sit still.