Challenging Poetry

El Salvador: República de El Salvador

the world is young, here,
mountains forming
like trees,
adding new strata every year.
a volcano forms slowly,
layer upon layer—
rock flowing from the earth—
fire, water, and spirit.
and if we come too close,
touch the fire,
die before our time
in mud and lava flow—
it is in the hands of the Savior,
for the land is His:
Provincia De Nuestro
Señor Jesus Cristo,
El Salvador Del Mundo

line count: 17

Author's Note ▶︎

The original name of El Salvador (the last three lines of the poem) was given by its European discoverer, Pedro de Alvarado, and means: The Province of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of the World. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Salvador

One of the facts that I learned as I was researching again yesterday was that a family of four (mother, father, 8 year old son, and 5 year old daughter) died 29 September 2017 in a landslide. That's the first thing I read, and it brought me here through the facts that El Salvador is the most densely populated country in Central America and it has active volcanos and extreme weather events . . . and yet, it still is called the Province of the Savior. That's the main place this poem came from. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/09/29/landslide-hits-el-salvador-home-kills-4-...