Saturday, January 1, 2011

12:01 Jan 1, 2011 Jan 2011




Two bonfires light up my block,
one on each end.
The air is pungent with wood smoke.
Eerie!

Nary a cohete (bottle rocket) to be heard -
instead, the peppering of small firecrackers.
Thankfully!

Soft music from a distance.
A pulsing beat and muffled vocals
punctuated by laughter, hoots and hollers.
¡Ai yi yi yi yi!

The church bells peal, first slowly and rhythmically,
building, then frantically calling the faithful
to Midnight Mass.
Don't be late!

Then the gunfire,
Mexicans love to shoot off their guns into the sky
at the stroke of midnight.
Not caring that what goes up will, 
eventually, come back down!
 
First some pop, pop, pops,
then the unmistakable rat-a-tat-tat
of an automatic weapon from the hillside.
A SIGN OF THE TIMES!

We shelter in place.

¡FELIZ AÑO A TODOS!

3 comments:

  1. Last night at midnight, I thought there was a narco raid in progress. Kabul has less automatic weapon fire.

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  2. Wow! I didn't think there were auto weapons in Melaque!
    Prospero Año, Steve!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The gunshots here didn't let up until 5am! :P

    Happy New Year! :)

    ReplyDelete