The Irresistible Urge to Look Up

one solitary Chinese lantern,
burning boldly red
floats upward, piercing the soft sky.

below, single parents with crying children,
old friends with a game of bridge on a shabby folding table,
teenagers shyly holding hands,
loud families with lawn chairs, bags of chips, cans of soda,

look up.

the crowd below, moments before filled with
noise and confusion
                                   
                                silences

as the lantern
so bright against the pale blue sky
quietly ascends.

the reason for this gathering of people,
this mishmash of old young middle aged
friends strangers acquaintances exes families

is another spectacle to be witnessed in the sky.

a patriotic assembly held
to evoke feelings of brotherhood and beauty
as we all look up             up            up
necks craned, heads back
our eyes blurring with forgot-to-blink tears, remembering tears, proud tears
inexplicable tears

as this all-encompassing, irresistible urge to look up
overtakes us

and
for a moment
the thousands of tiny distinctions we
make between ourselves and everyone else
are themselves blurred
and we become, not through some sense of pride
or patriotism, but simply through this upward gaze

united