Down

Came up 

A speck of brown dust

That rose

And wafted 

In the air

I looked

I dared

And the crack from which the dust rose

Exposed

A deeper crack

Beneath it

And beneath that

Another crack

A heat pulsated

And pushed

And burned the wood

Making the embers

That rose up

A rush

A bang

A click

And a roar

The Chinese vacuum

Came once more

Over 

The crack and back

Again

But the dust still rose

And wafted

And

tricked

Me into thinking

That this was it

But the crack beneath the crack beneath the crack

Was hot and burned 

Underneath the surface

The Chinese vacuum could not get beyond 

The flat

Hard wood

At the top

It could not get rid of

What had been burned 

And was

already gone

Long, long time ago