booms of color
flashes of chemical light
thumps of battling thunder
with red and white and blue.

freedom comes at a cost
and we remind ourselves on the 4th
of the seventh month of the Gregorian
what shells of flashing death can do.

if i can't feel the compressing flame in my chest
or hear the shells combust in earshot
i ask that you stay quiet
and keep on with your way of life.

we're taught to love this day
to be proud of our stars and stripes
to support the troops
and honor those that served.

i do love them.
i do support them.
but if we are adults within an adult world
we are only reinforcing the idea of war.

i know that we wouldn't be the nation we are without unjustly ******
i know that we wouldn't be the nation we are without justly ******
i know that we wouldn't be the nation we are if millions had not died
fighting to believe this world is fair and just and can be influenced to into right.

i know we are confused; a home, a state, a nation, a world
i know we have done wrong; oh so much wrong.
but i know that we also do right
i just can't see if time has allowed the scales to balance

great powers must fall, that is the cycle of all life
great deeds do not go unrewarded. material or immaterial.
i don't know where to stand in the sand, or where to draw the line
i do know i love the lights and laughs in the first week of July.