The Phoenix Re-Born

Carys Marshall

It is so very hot. The summers are becoming hotter and hotter each year! I fly across my forest over the tree tops in the year 2200, looking down at the land that has been my home for centuries.

My North American forest was fertile and bountiful, the grass tall and slender, while it blew in the wind. Trees reached for the heavens, providing food and shelter for animals that lived within and under the canopy. Not any more.

Man’s population explosion has seen towns of 50000 inhabitants become metropolitan cities with tens of millions residents. This cosmopolitan expansion has been linked by a massive network of freeways creating serous air pollution problems and eating its way, like a spreading disease, into the areas that were once stunningly beautiful the way nature intended, and home to numerous species of bird, fauna and flora.

Bears now stand by the river bed, looking for salmon that have depleted considerably. Racoons and mongoose scavenge for fruit that are non-existent, since the acid rain has damaged and scarred the landscape. It has become hot, arid and barren.

I am a phoenix, king of the birds and lord of fire. I have watched over my forest for many years, and the time has come for me to expire and be re-born. I’ve been in this scenario before where man’s misuse of his planet has lead to devastating results – 1300-1400 there were devastating floods and droughts in Phoenix, Arizona (that’s when they named the city after me,) in 1906 in San Francisco earthquake, in Atlanta again in the Great Fire of 1917 and in 2001 in New York after the Twin Towers collapsed – my symbol has been used as a symbol of new life after each of these events and now I feel the time has come again for re-birth.

In a glade in the forest two people are putting away their camping gear.

“Make sure you put that fire out properly Alex”, shouted Susanna.

“OK, Susanna.” Alex shouted back, paying lip service to the request.

Minutes later the couple had disappeared, the only thing left was a smouldering fire, getting bigger – and out of hand.

Soon the forest was a blaze, the animals scattered in all directions, and the trees fell with loud bangs. All you could see was smoke, ashes and flames for miles around.

In the devastating, ravaging forest fire the Phoenix builds it’s nest then ignites. After a few minutes the nest and Phoenix are engulfed in flames. The fire rages for several days, as man is not equipped with sufficient water supply to get it under control.

From the ashes, a new baby Phoenix arises, its one and only concern is to ensure there is a future for life on earth.

The phoenix glances at the devastation that surrounds it. Few forest creatures survived totally intact. The bald eagle survives, but is homeless and there are many charred bodies of mountain lions, mountain goats, lemmings, birds, wolf, chipmunk – the list seems endless. For the lucky few who have made it to higher ground, the chance to start over again – but in what conditions? Man has over populated the country and produced massive factories that pollute the air, and have lead to over farming the land.

The Phoenix flies around to ascertain the damage and decide how to use its magic to rectify this disaster. Swirling in magnificent circles high above the mountains and fields that lie black and chard, a firework of colours explode from the tail of the red and gold phoenix.

Down below the changes that take place are miraculous – the trees grow tall and beautiful, the grass suddenly becomes green and long, flowers shoot with a large spectrum of colour, all species of animals great and small start to populate the land once again. It becomes reminiscent of the time when Chief Seattle and his people once cared and lived in harmony with the earth – when it was treated as a sacred place. The water was unpolluted, the air was unpolluted, vast amounts of logging was not undertaken – the earth did not belong to them, they were part of the earth – what befell it, befell the people of the earth? This was the vision of the earth that the phoenix had, as it soared above the vista.