We decorate.
We celebrate.
We cheer and eat.
Spending time with those we love
(And maybe those we don’t)
We bake and we grill.
We wave flags.
Setting off fireworks
(And setting off car alarms)
Watching as they fizzle, pop
Dazzling into the sky
Onto the marveling,
Sparkling beauty of the night
We are blinded—
Lost between the air
Smothered with the scent
Of smoke and sulfur.
Rejoicing gleefully.
Tomorrow could never come
(And then tomorrow comes)
And we reluctantly embrace
The daily grind again.

Music to my ears
I swear it,
written like a lullaby

Strikes me deathly still
to hear it
bottle rockets touch the sky

Beauty to behold
and near it,
all the luster one could ask

though the night is cold
we fear not,
marching towards our final task

(Or just a sofa and a cask)