<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Last Stand</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i style="font-size: 14px;" class="">Sequoia National Forest</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i style="font-size: 14px;" class="">California Wildfires, 2021</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">What do they </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">make of us</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">after all that has</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">come and gone</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">these two thousand</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">years</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">hosing down </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the forest floor</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">frantically clearing </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">vegetation </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">wrapping their boles</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">in a fire proof</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">shield </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">encircling them</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">if necessary</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">with our own </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">tiny bodies</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">a last stand</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">between the trees</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and the fires</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">while others</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">who do not </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">hear their song</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">pump out </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">choking gases</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">killing them slowly</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">but just as surely</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">as the flames</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Betty Les</div></div></body></html>