the bright flash of a flare in your eyes
lights up your face--

warnings streak across the sky
like shooting stars--

For a second I thought I might believe--

bombs falling with the sound of fireworks,
the rise and fall of bursting lights;
rushing through air that could carry paper cranes,
that could sail paper kites.

For a second I thought I might have seen--

metal falling from the sky
pelting like rain--

horizon filled with smoke and light
heat on your face--