Summer Fun?
The sacred silence of the evening
mingles with the sound
of frogs singing and crickets chirping,
lulling us to sleep.
This is the best part of summer.
And as I drift into a dream, I know that
somewhere in the nearby fields and forests
coyote pups are suckling,
deer are giving birth,
and the lovely fox we saw this winter,
living under a cottage porch
is now tending her young.
I fall into a deep sleep
resting for the next day’s work.
When it happens – again,
this year just like last year,
BANG! KABOOM! SCHOOOTA!
CRACKLE. CRACKLE
“Ohh,” I groan waking up.
The dog is whining, I lift him onto the bed.
He is shivering so hard our bed is shaking,
his hot, anxious breath in our faces.
My husband moans.
Crickets and frogs have stopped singing.
The earth seems frightened and strangely quiet.
Someone in a summer cottage is having “fun”
shooting off very loud fireworks.
If it is after 11pm I call the sheriff.
Sometimes I feel so violated and frustrated,
I fantasize going downstate to their home and
doing what they do up here,
the night before they have an important trial
or after a long day in the office or on call in the ER.
Or when they are sick or recovering from surgery.
It’s not my better side. I’m not proud of it.
I know we cannot force others to be compassionate
or see their actions from someone else’s perspective.
(And yes, I do know how pretty fireworks can be
and that it is exciting and fun to set them off.)
But it just doesn’t seem right – that
someone else’s “fun” causes so much pain
and is so destructive of what people
love about the area –
the abundant quiet and natural beauty.
For more information about the effects of fireworks
on the environment, pets and wildlife go to:
http://www.all-creatures.org/oadl/art-fireworks.html
