Fire and Ice

L.A. is on fire. 

That’s what I wrote in January.

Los Angeles is burning again—not from winds or nature but from meanness, anger, hatred.

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

~Robert Frost

When I studied this poem by the master of metaphor many years ago, our job was to winnow the subtle (or not so subtle) meaning of his fire, his ice. Obvious to all of us (this was the ’60’s, after all) was that fire represented desire and greed; ice was the heart freezing over with hatred. Either one would suffice to finish us.

The irony is staggering.

I walked in my neighborhood this morning. A woman was using a blower on the sidewalk and didn’t see me as I came into view from behind a column. Startled, she shut it off quickly, apologizing with an anxious “¡Lo siento, lo siento!” I waved and said, “No, no problem. Good morning!” A moment later she came around the next column and called to me, smiling, “Gracias. Gracias, lady.” I felt her fear and my eyes welled with tears.

On my return home, I heard someone on a bicycle behind me and moved to the side. A young fellow rode by and waved a “thank you” but didn’t break from the conversation he was having through his earpods. In broken English, he was saying, “They were deliberately throwing sticks at my bike wheels…”

He was out of range before I could know more of his story.

The fear is growing,

shape-shifting,

seeping like run-off water in unpredictable paths.

“For destruction, ICE is also great and would suffice.”