The Hottest Summer Ever and a Decade of Terror

There could not be a stranger year. There could not be a more backwards reflection. There could not be more paranoia or great divides in trust. People have gathered under my nails as I scratch and claw and rake through their minds trying to find their rationality. Bloody nails that hurt and burn and sting. Fires that billow and smoke that evaporates the sweet air from our lungs. Wine and beer and whiskey that only sings you to sleep until the next morning. Songs that won't come out and lockjaw that won't move. Everything is burning around here. Great fires that swallow acres of altruism. An armor is required for passage and flight. We all take the world upon our shoulders...as we must...and somewhere beneath that...under the fading carbon is the meaning of it all. It's the temperate silence of sweet serenity. It's God's love.