Then Everything Changed

“Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed …”

Air
It was always there
I breathed it in
Even to the depths of the ocean
It filled my lungs
In my darkest despair
Always there
For 100 years or more
I needed nothing more

The change in me was like water flowing from the sea.
The river flowed like blood in veins
Bleeding me dry.
Dry ice, frozen in time, 
Would I be yours?
Who are you to me?
Friends to lovers?
How could it be?

Blind to the trees and their colored leaves
Solid foundation of dirty deeds
I’ll move mountains to do as I please
I can’t see how you can’t see me
Too little, too loud
Too much to be hidden in a crowd
I will bend the minerals from the ground
Bind them to myself 
Too strong, too proud

The fire grows higher when released from the flame
Take my anger, take my pain
See the burning in my eyes
Feel the heat from my divide
I walk not in the ways of my fatherland
I am an inferno, sparked from lightning among the trees
Douse me not with water
It only excites me

Everything changed
When the elements were set free
Combined together
Complete with me
I hold them
Fire, Air, Water & Ground
When I release them
Oh what Hell there is to pay
When at Heaven’s gate we play

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This is a poem inspired by a prompt that asked us to take one of the four elements and explore it. You can read that poem From The Dirt here: https://theauthorstew.wordpress.com/2025/02/25/from-the-dirt/

The prompt originally made me think of the opening of Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series. I had also been seeing a lot of posts on my Twitter feed about ATLA (I clicked on ONE post about Kora vs Ang and whoosh sucked into a rabbit hole and The Algorithm thinks ATLA is my life now. lol).

So of course I had to do a poem about it and share it with you all. So here it is. Enjoy!

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