4th of July

by Timothy Reed

This year I didn’t seem to need the fireworks.
Instead I chose to find what magic in the wetland lurks.
In lieu of Roman candles, cannonades, and Chinese crackers,
I heard the sounds of chirps and coos and croaks and flying quackers.
I bypassed all the celebratory red and white and blue,
To revel in the tranquil marsh’s moody mystical hue.
Sometimes I tire of man-made patriotic pomposity,
And find it easily trumped by God’s intrinsic virtuosity!