You could focus on the cracks
And speculate on the causes
Subsidence or earth shake
And wait, anxiously, for widening,
Signs of further weakening.
It’s all surface but underneath
And unseen, forces working
That eventually find some kind of balance,
Or collapse about your head.
As beings, we’re not so good at picking up
Those subtle signs that make dogs uneasy
And howl, just before Nature shows her hand,
When the forest fire rages into suburbs
Or the tsunami rolls over the shore.
We are left picking up the pieces,
Burying the dead and counting the cost
Living our lives on the surface,
Between the cracks.