Proposal for a new summer holiday. |
We should celebrate August eleventh, the night of the Perseid meteor shower. There’s a long, hot stretch without a holiday, and this would fill the gap. Perseid Day would be a holiday to last all time. And so we wave goodbye to Independence Day, and we then linger in summer days, when lawns become those many shades of grizzled brown, and our Labradors, spaniels and basset hounds all succumb to their August; swelled tongues lapping air so heat can find its way. Dog days drain us all. There are swimming pools, all right, and back yard swings, and vine fresh cherry tomatoes. Yet since the sky is an essential timepiece, and stars from Heaven are for sure, why not tag this summer day officially? Then we can circle it on our calendars and thus, have a day we can look forward to, when stars incise the night. We talk fast and loose when we say stars, describing rock and dust. Yet this is advocacy for a holiday, so shooting stars they will remain. The night is noiseless sparkler, white filaments ripping night’s repose, flashes thin and brief. It is like drama to delight, each universal flare announcing that the sky’s alive, and we with eyes to capture them remain riveted to flashing cosmic entourage. It seems appropriate to designate August eleventh a holiday, one date recognized as the daylight wanes while spells of heat abide as the signature of summer. Perseid Day could become as popular as Labor Day or the fourth of July. Maybe, in time, it would be synonymous with something even more basic, since the sky, and the stars, belong to everyone. 26 Lines Writer’s Cramp August 3, 2013 |