Photo: Creative Commons
~
booms and sirens
calling a sleepy town to rise
the children are already awake
everyone else doesn’t mind the alarm
~
the parade is today
the sun rises brighter
the wind blows lighter, warmer
because summer stops to rest
~
the boy moves with an excitement
his parents wish he had for school
peeking through the screen door at other kids
popping with guns and snaps and caps
~
he fears he’ll miss the parade
having to wait for everyone else
but rather than upset the morning plan
he paces quietly on the porch steps
~
watching the oblivious
a cautious squirrel ascending a tree trunk
a robin bobbing in the grass
a busy anthill on a sidewalk crack
~
after breakfast his father moves in the garage
his worried mother prepares her tote
bikes, sandwiches, blankets, ready
for the pilgrimage
~
the boy listens for the go
among early blow horns
early firecrackers
early hissing of sparklers
~
children, parents, grandparents
they fill the sidewalks
cars funnel down to the lakefront
no one rushes today except the children
~
fathers and mothers reminisce
they’ve safely been there before
staking out a good curbside view
of recycled images of youth
~
grandparents settle into lawn chairs
they too have been there before
many times more
having lost count of their good fortunes
~
as the fire engines approach
the boy imagines his future
mother and father observe their present
grandparents preserve their past
~
as the parade thief displays its subjects:
marching band, drill team, rotary float,
politician, veteran, sauerkraut queen,
it seduces the boy
~
when the ritual is complete
and the tide reverses into remembrances
in the streets along the lakefront
mothers search for lost children
~
while the parade thief steals the boy away
through summer
through the seasons
and beyond boyhood
~
literophanes.com 
Leave a Reply