The Night the Stars Came Crashing Down

The night the stars came crashing down
The first one hit the pool behind our house
Causing the water splashed the tips of the grass
And it looked like we had thrown a thousand flashlights
Into the light blue water

We were afraid that with the stars out of the sky
The nights would be black outside
And we wouldn't be able to sit on the porch
Laughing over mosquito bites
And bright pink lemonade

But when the stars came down
They planted themselves into the ground
Like flagpoles on foreign soil
Flags of light flapping
In the earthly breeze

We were pleased to see our mothers
Dancing around the star
Ground deep into our front yard
That gave off a relaxed sort of purple

Mrs. Denver hitched her skirt up
Put her shoes on her hands
And clapped like she was running
While her husband begged her
To come back in the house

'Relax, James,' she called out 'I'm not done being young yet!'

And dipped her hand into the purple
Pulling back a necklace
With a story hanging down from it

Mrs. Denver would never tell us what that story was
But the first time she listened to it
She kicked Mr. Denver out of the house
And moved herself into town
Where she opened a speakeasy
And smoked cigarettes until the day she died

Needless to say, we were worried about our mother
Because she was even more wild than Mrs. Denver
And when she made herself pink lemonade
She always put other stuff in it
When she thought we weren't looking

But Mom wasn't interested in the purple
She liked the green coming out of our pool
The light chasing itself around our yard
Rising up and running out from the top of the chlorinated water
Like a little kid chasing his own shadow

Mom dipped her toe in
Then her ankle, her leg
Slowly slipping herself down
Into the light's shadow

And when she was all the way in
She started laughing
Holding her hands out to us

'Come on, kids,' she said, 'The water's fine!'

And for the first time
The sky was lit
By the earth beneath it

And we jumped in the pool
After our mother
Seeing her good and clear
As the water turned the color
Of our bright pink lemonade