The Fourth of July

Music by Paul Nahay
Words by Matthew Westbrook
Commissioned for the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the Castle Performing Arts Center Hyattsville, Maryland 1984 June 30. Scored for soprano and piano. Completed 1984 June 27 in Hyattsville, Maryland


Only a day before the eclipse
The fireworks mark time: mark
The sky of another Fourth. The full
Moon, unmarked, falls
A crater at a time with the sparks.
Couples on lawn blankets,
Cradled together, murmur "oo" for the moon,
And "aah" for the dark.
Craters fall from the moon,
Fall from eyes attempting to see,
One lands in a fountain a mile away.

This spectacle, if observed with complete
Understanding, does not happen
As anyone can describe it. Certain mis-
Apprehensions begin to evolve, one might guess
From the water of the fountain, or the fountains
Of sparks, before the couple on the lawn,
Moving under the aerial display, can
Begin to understand it.

From point to point
Directions will shift,
With or without the wind.
Another beer will be opened
By just about everyone
With a cooler, looser air
Than they had before,
And the squirming kids
Who turns somersaults
Will begin to realize
The longer it all lasts,
That they too might sit
And predict the finale,
All to no event.

The couple on the lawn,
Gathered in the awkward sphere
Of their blanket, will continue
To notice the moon, and the circles
Formed by the somersaults, amid
The shriekings of delight. This will
Engage them, but only as long
As the longest-lived sparks can
Choreograph, against the air, a peacefulness
Short of death.

Bearings get lost, but don't matter,
Necks get stiff, but warm again.
A hand on the knee
In the cardboard rain
And ash of magnesium
Can help, can jolt the memory
Of a fallen particle, or
Expel a bit of ash from the eye.
The dew collects on the eventual grass,
The hand brushes by, forgetful
Of the itch, and the couple,
At last, gets cold.

Still, the scene matures, sunk somewhere
Beneath the fountain, a foot or two under.
The Center of a sparkler, a demon without knowledge,
Altering in that water, will
Continue to observe, memoryless,
The holiday into night.
Fireflies vie, turning metaphor
Under the splendor,
Work their ways into comments
Comparing them, unsizing them, and
There glow dimly remembered.


All, in extinguishing thought --
The massing of the lawn,
Blankets lifted and shaken,
Wrinkles smoothed and patterns folded
Under (creased for the year's diameter) --
Exists as if anything happens, or can;
In the darkness, after,
Comes the fifth.
Earth moves according to plan.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• fourth
• July
• Independence
• Day
• America
• American
• holiday
• Castle
• performing
• arts
• center
• Hyattsville
• Maryland