Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night

The sky cracks open, wild and fierce,

Sparks leap and twist like golden rain,

The crowd steps back, the fire roars,

A beast alive, untamed, insane.

Children laugh with shining eyes,

Faces lit by sudden flame,

Their mittens clutching paper stars,

As names dissolve in smoke and fame.

The air smells thick of sweetened ash,

Of gunpowder and fleeting light,

The dark hums low, the crowd grows still,

Then bursts again in pure delight.

Yet in that glow there hides a fear,

A beauty born from near decay,

For every spark that lights the sky,

Is something wild that won’t obey.

Bonfire night, my heart beats loud,

The air alive, the earth a drum,

And in the smoke I see my youth,

Still running where the fireworks come.