Inferno

The earth trembled, and the air shrieked.
Rain pounded the ground heartlessly,
And thunder crackled in the night.
Through all this terror I did not flinch,
But a cold sweat coated my shaking skin.

Before me, not twenty feet away,
Stood a house engulfed in flames.
Hot tears washed the soot from my cheeks.
If only this was a dream, a nightmare in the dark.

My feet seemed etched to the broken ground.
I couldn’t rush into the inferno or turn and flee.
Instead I watched the destruction of my life
As my beloved family burned in the night.