Black Clouds of Doom

Black smoke that swiftly rises, striped with gray and white,
Eruption overpowering, destruction far and wide;
Smoke that spirals upward, towering up on high,
Blocking every movement, on earth or in the sky.
Boiling clouds of ashes, of sulfur and fine grain,
Mocking man’s achievements, halted in their rain.
Lethal dust outreaching all horizons of the North,
Acid storm far spreading, with volcanic wrath.
This nightmare takes us back to thought of Jules Verne
Who from Icelandic crater Earth’s secrets sought to learn.
‘Tis now a waking nightmare our age has not yet seen;
They speak of Yellowstone, which shows what once has been,
Upheavals of the planet once mantled by the snow,
Now causing man confusion from Iceland’s lava flow.
The lowering cloud rolls on, with fingers spreading wide,
Rising still and stretching, with forces yet unspent,
Upper space with all its vastness holds not its wide extent.
It challenges mankind whose engines ride the air
And he despite his genius faced with Nature must despair.
There is nothing man can do in face of Nature’s rage
When raising up its forces a fearsome war to wage.
This time the scale is small, this is what we’re told,
Ten times more the terror that the future can unfold.
When heat makes granite molten to run in fluid streams,
Turn day into dark night and shut out sunlight beams,
And Iceland’s dread volcano from fires underground
Gives rise to desperation, causing terror all around.
With one hand giving life and the other dealing death,
Nature is the arbiter as long as we have breath.
Let no one boast he knows all of Nature’s secret wiles,
For no one knows what’s hidden when she seems to be all smiles.
Man made monsters fill the air, running all on time,
He thought himself the master, like God upon his throne,
But now the weary crowds in airport halls await,
Suffering in anger till the threatening clouds abate.

French by Joseph Matar – Translation: K.J. Mortimer