Fire Season - Rest

For first responders who see and assess the chaos and carnage,

Working puzzles of potential progress and defence, 

checking for vagaries of wind’s direction...

As they lie down,

We pray rest.

For those who toil seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months...

Longing for signs of abatement...

As they lie down,

We pray rest.

For those who have packed cars and boxes,

Grabbed albums and jewellery boxes, trinkets and treasures,

Escaping beyond reach of other worldly goods...

As they lie down,

We pray rest.

For those who have called loved ones, 

only to hear messages of inaccessibility, 

waiting and wondering, despairing and hoping...

As they lie down,

We pray rest.

For radio operators, 

keeping calm, calling the work,

All the while churning with anxiety and responsibility... 

As they lie down,

We pray rest.

For paramedics, orderlies, triage nurses, registrars,

For those who administer oxygen and carry equipment 

to those who struggle to gasp life...

As they lie down,

We pray rest.

For volunteers who never imagined the approach of Apocalypse, 

who put on an apron or picked up a bread knife, 

who passed out the tissues and wept their compassion,

As they lie down,

We pray rest.

For children whose laughter or tears break through the frustrations of adults,

who remind those around of the need for tomorrows, 

who need a bedtime story of hope and courage...

As they lie down,

We pray rest.

For the countless unnamed who have seen nightmares flickering 

into halls, shops, waiting rooms and lounge rooms, 

who have groaned in horror and contemplated the terrors...

As we all lie down,

We pray rest.