Above the caldera at Yellowstone, <br />a brittle soilrock crust <br />caps a lake of liquid fire <br />with only fumaroles of acrid steam <br />and spewing geysers <br />to slake its upward thrust. <br /> <br />False steps by men or creatures <br />breach that fragile mantle <br />plummeting errant ones to <br />scalding pain or death. <br /> <br />Within us all calderas also roil <br />brewed of failures, slights and fears - <br />dissolved in fiery pools <br />of self-consuming miseries. <br /> <br />Counter to that molten force <br />we form our culture crust <br />of forgiveness, love and justice. <br /> <br />With music, art and friendship, <br />we plant fragrant gardens in our souls <br />and load our trowels with psychic mortar <br />to seal the calderas of our discontents. <br /> <br /><I>July, 2006
