An explosion of light and the gasps of the crowd as
chrysanthemums bloom in the midwinter sky.
Rockets are soaring like unicorn manes and they
scream like excitable children at play.

Flashes of copper green, sodium yellow,
potassium purple, magnesium white.
While to eat there is soup, baked potatoes and sausages,
apples and toffee that's dark as the night.

The jumping-jacks snap at the heels of the watchers;
the bonfire is roaring - a lion at bay.
Someone is nervous: will it melt through the ice and
tumble us all to a watery grave?