Snow Melt

Listening to the Fourth of July

Jalál (Glory), 12 Rahmat (Mercy), 165 BE – Saturday, July 5, 2008 about 7:40 AM PDT

I sit in my living room last night
listening to the Fourth of July,
listening to firecrackers and bottle rockets,
listening to pops, cracks and whistles.

I sit in my living room last night
and looked out the window to see
the red, white, blue, gold, and silver
of pyrotechnic displays.

I sit in my living room last night
listening to the Independence Day celebration
and realized
that I do not enjoy it as much now as I did when I was a child.

I sit in my living room last night
listening to America's birthday proclamation
and realized
that trust in God means going to bed knowing
that your neighbors are igniting illegal fireworks,
which could cause damage to my property and house
and still not worrying about it.