Balancing Act

Delicately balanced
on a volcano
surrounded by ocean

naively ensconced
among Azorean hills
with distracting beauty

while sitting upon
a long, slow fuse
of violent potential

bubbling mud pits
puffing fumaroles
with invisible power

like erratic genes
viruses, prions
embedded faults

ticking silently
inexorably
as nature’s surprise clocks.