Volcano Companion

Volcano companion

When I go with you into the world
It comes alive in colour and mirth
With you I find Vesuvius
to travel with you is salubrious
In distant past I went alone
And found a world in monochrome
With you volcanoes come alight
The lava flows are burning bright
To go with you was overdue
My true companion, forever you
O Baby!

And would I loose you from my sight
Volcanoes would become my blight
I will be lost as in a fog
And fail to read the travelogue
I climb Etna but do not see
The Behncke rock that flies at me
The lava causes misery
without volcano company
Without you
O Baby!

Kilauea is not the same
The caldera has a fuzzy frame
Halemaumau lacks apogee
its depth and breadth are lost to me
Without you I flail around
loose the path to a’a ground
The fumaroles I do not see
I blindly walk into a tree
The lava lights are dim to me
Leilani in absentee
Without you
O Baby

Sinabung does not excite
Mount Agung will not ignite
Krakatau to me is gone
Galunggung looks dark and done
Invisible is Rinjani
Deserted greys of Merapi
The lake of Taal I do not see
And steep Mayon is far from me
without you
O Baby

The Snake River’s volcanic zone
I knock against its yellow stone
No geyser blows its steam for me
Old Faithful’s blast I do not see
The path is hidden without you
I fail to find a point of view
Castle geyser has lost its cone
I can’t locate Big Anemone
My doctor says, it isn’t strange
that my visions in your absence change
In this I must with him agree
Without my glasses I cannot see

Without you
My glasses
O Baby

(Ohne Dich, Reinhard Mey)

Who would you like as your volcano companion?

29 thoughts on “Volcano Companion

  1. I for one can’t agree that volcanoes don’t like poetry

  2. Iceland quiet for this long? Certainly something must be wrong.

    • Waiting for the Lithium Ion batteries to short…

      They are quite sedate and deliver a fairly high return on the energy stored in them… but if the plates are damaged and become shorted… it is spectacular. 😀

  3. If on Heckla id like to hike, there is no danger from an intruding dike, even if just whispers the faintest rumble there no danger from a tumble, no one would consider it a terrible crime, that I had assumed borrowed time and my fortunes most sublime and that nature acts with fairness and warning and Heckla would not give me an individual scorning.

    • And Hekla replies with a snort and a grunt: ‘it is what you asked for, but not what I want’.

      Kaboom.

  4. If volcanoes refuse to erupt from the sea,I’ll just read them my poetry, if still they refuse to erupt alas! Proof enough it’s not corrupt !

    • Thanks for the chuckle, Dellenite! And thanks for your lovely poem, Albert!

  5. and tootling in here this morning(Alaska time) i’m ruminating hum… who WOULD i take? finally settled on letting Albert go in my place with Carl and they can tell me about it when they get back… i’m not up to travelling any more…. (word to the wise… old age hits faster than You imagine… go now and take lots of pictures and bore Your friends when You get back.) 😉 Best!motsfo

  6. My companion would be whoever wants to pay my air-fare. In turn, I would provide the entertainment.

    I can slam some bloody awful poetry too if you wish to get the volcano riled up.

    Said Volcano, What bard this-way comes?
    Is that Emily @$#&ing Dickinson?
    I will answer bad poetry
    With pyroclastic flowetry
    And find out how fast you can run

    (Bad poetry – Exhibit A https://hellopoetry.com/poem/3911/volcanoes-be-in-sicily/ )

  7. Not pandering, but I would choose two. Carl, and Albert.

    Caveat: I’m half drunk.

    As for my favorite volcano? Grímsvötn without a doubt. I would choose Katla, but she would kill you before things got interesting. For her, foreplay is lethal.

    • My companion would be chief of the tech team at IMO with a live link to the ‘excrement and fan’ feed.

    • I am always open for suggestions Lurking!

      @Bearded man of the Devonian era:
      My Swenglish lost something in translation. 🙂

    • And that is the hidden threat from Ranier. Years of seeping SO2, CO2 and percolating water act to make much of the rocky volcanic edifice turn to clay.

      • Rainier has a very top-heavy inverted U shape that looks unstable to me.

  8. Reminds me, I have not yet made a volcano pilgrimage this year – this area is not currently showing signs of activity (it is however near South Sister) but otherwise it has first rate volcano vibes and it is a bit over an hour drive from my home. https://www.google.com/search?q=belknap+crater+oregon&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=LjOqdBtqZJD6vM%253A%252Ce7ekXjkZ_oMZcM%252C%252Fm%252F02d0lf&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kQ8BiRffSTdSpHeA-4SYxWtyjAguw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQtNP24_PjAhXS-lQKHZijASUQ_B0wFHoECAcQAw#imgrc=LjOqdBtqZJD6vM:

      • In yon olden days. It is rather sleepy as volcanoes go.
        Last eruption, 5.32 in the morning on the 27th of March in the year of 480. A certain orange guy was the first responder.

  9. Delightful!

    I was busy for a few days and missed that Ulawon went big again.
    Nice and cool here for August, same temperature in Southern California and Alaska again.

  10. One thing we don’t want more of
    A big eruption from Mount Tambora

    • No worry there. It is out of ammunition for now. The danger is in the ones that have not yet exploded..

    • This will be SO2. Earthquake activity has been slower recently, but this suggests that magma has accumulated fairly close to the surface (1-2 km perhaps). Was there any change to the water flow reported? It may happen when water is released from underneath the ice. But if the flow is constant, this indicates an on-going increase of gas release from the magma, i.e. shallowing.

    • Icelandic Met Office has released a stone-tablet.
      It clearly states that this is residual gas from the intrusion that started in 2017 and ended in January 2019. It has pooled near geothermal vents, and as glacial melt sets in that water is pushed out.
      No sign of volcanic activity or any change in the volcano.

      In other words, business as usual at an active volcano that will erupt somewhere down the line, but not now.

  11. Despite my artistic genius, poetry has never been my strong suit.. Cerro negro has had more then 900 earthquakes in the past week.

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