July Fourth
JULY 4TH
I hate to say it but
“In the old days –
(will all the ancient folk ever tire of retelling?)
July 4th was a big BIG day!
Up at crack-of-dawn if you were a kid
With red salutes
4 inches round
6 inches long
You could blow a tin can as high as the phone wires
Bounce torpedoes off the neighbor’s brick garage
Few ever complained because most everyone was doing it
Except for Hattie and Maude
two ancient sisters who lived behind their broken
down green board fence
They complained – said the kids collapsed their stupid
broken down green board fence
(which everyone knew had been leaning for years)
‘Done it with them there awful fire crackers’ said Maude
‘You better believe it!’ said Hattie
At night the little ones were out on the front lawns
whirling sparklers clear on down the block
The city sky was a riot of showering colors
clear on downtown
And the NOISE!
If there’s been a band around
Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever would’ve drowned
No it was one continuous canons blasting –
the end of 1812
Around about 10: P.M. just after dark
The little ones spent and in spite of the noise
Dropped onto their beds too tired to even undress
Copyright © Daver Austin | Year Posted 2010
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