Bursting Fourth

America begins again

each year

with a Big Bang

so loud we cannot hear,

the smoke so dense we cannot breathe,

the light so bright we cannot see

the dead, the maimed, the dark enslaved,

the land now covered with forgetful night.

The guns that promise freedom from our fears

belch forth the independence of an orphan

the power of a madman in his cell,

an earthly devastation

impotent before our death.

Our fingers rise to cross our brows

before the colored cloth that covers coffins

coming back

from unknown shores.

The fire, the light, the noise, the smoke,

            blot out the stars,

            disguise the great immensity,

            the unimaginably new creation

            bursting from the heart of blackness

making all things bright with love,

dazzling with life.

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3 thoughts on “Bursting Fourth”

  1. I think the virus and George Floyd’s murder have swept away some of the blustery darkensss to reveal America’s core to a deeper darkness. How long may it last? An organizational form to sustain it? Or filtering through sufficiently to the souls of those in power who can take heed.

  2. Bill, remember, “The present darkness is the dimness before the dawn, not after the sunset.” (Spanish saying)

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