FIREWORKS (Monday Poem)

by Deborah Chandra

A hiss,
Howl,
Rush,
A thunderous roar!
Wild beasts burst
In fiery hordes
To mix with shadows
In the sky,
Flashing teeth
And tiger eyes.

Sizzling tongues,
Leopard spots,
Lion mouths
Red, round and hot!
Bristling paws
Climb the night,
Golden glowing
Balls of light
That pounce, then sprawl,
There . . .
                  now there,
      and there,
Burning, trembling
In the air--
To fade,
Falling
On earth below;
Soft as milkweed,
Silent as snow.



from Balloons and Other Poems by Deborah Chandra, illustrations by Leslie Bowman, 1993, Farrar, Straus and Giroux