In the Twilight of Nature

Everything is dry and scorched and dead
Forlorn flowers dip and weave slowly
As a cat silent slips by eneven tread
Toward the shade alongside the house.

The shade stands up as he comes
As if a queen disturbed again
Her reign unhappily overthrown
When breached by thinnest whisker.

And in the air is naught a sound
And nothing moves along the ground
Nothing so far as my eyes can take me
Dares defy the fiery prince presiding above.

The trees bow down before him
like a skyborn, shimmering sea
And as the air slides through them
I sense it will be the death of me.

An air so dry you cannot breathe
An air so thick you cannot see
An air so hot you boil away
An air that muzzles at my face
And sucks the soul from me.