Beginning

Into the fire she strides deeper
Her body aching.
In a moment which is at once both fleeting and forever,
She is consumed by the flames.
The heat is unbearable.


There is nothing but fire now
Roaring against her.
She pushes on through it,
The world cracking open,
The flames all around her,
Her small body broken.


And just when it seems
As though everything will be destroyed
By the intensity of the flames,
A sudden gush of water
Bursts through the crack in the soil.