Most of the streamers are yellow
some aqua, some candy-
apple red
The children have hung them
from ropes and wires
to make the event more festive

Some they have coiled around trees
and telephone poles, tied into
lopsided
ribbons and bows

Soon the event will begin

The children watch the streamers
braid loosely, part and recombine,
thrust forward with the wind
as if they were flags or long tongues,

At sunset they shimmer like silk
though made from crepe paper

Soon the event will begin

If only the people would arrive,
the baskets
of food,
the magicians,
the trumpets
the cannons
Surely, the children agree, it
will begin at any moment
After all that hard work
how could the event
not happen?