Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

---

12 Fireworks

Night watch in the Army,
But I didn’t have a gun,
It was New Years Eve in Augsburg,
Nineteen Seventy one.

In Europe they love fireworks,
Exploding in the air,
But I had duty at my unit,
And I was the only person there.

The explosions started early,
An hour after dark,
I could see the rockets rising up,
Across the fence down by the park.

It seemed to me they were showing off,
Vainglory in the sky,
After all, I was Army,
And I began to wonder why.

Why? Why not join in,
And help light up this German town,
I found myself a flashlight,
I began to look around.

I found it in a corner,
It was too big to hide,
A man-carried parachute flare,
With directions on the side.

Remove the mortar from the can,
Bang it against something static,
Point the muzzle away from you,
Then it is automatic.




Those civilian fireworks were impressive,
But mine went up two thousand feet,
I had shown that I could show off too.
With my US Army feat.

Just then it dawned on me,
That I needed to lay low,
I could be in the brig tomorrow,
And I didn’t want to go.

I turned all the lights off,
And locked all the doors,
I checked all the windows,
And hid on the second floor.

In the morning the sergeant failed to ask me:
“Was the guilty party you?”
He didn’t want to hear the answer,
Besides I think he already knew.