was lit up with a thousand thousand crescent moons
cascading down the inky sky in a glittering rain
of fire
–
For a moment in the afternoon, a peal of thunder rolled through the sky and rain started pouring down. I got a call from my brother who’d gone up to English Bay with his friends to warn me that people were leaving the beach and I should bring a towel and an umbrella.
Fortunately, it stopped before my friend came round to give me a ride to Kitsilano Beach, where we’d agreed to go watch the last display of fireworks for the Celebration of Light, an annual international competition among four countries that takes place each summer in Vancouver; last night was a tribute to China. The view from Kits isn’t the same as English Bay, where the lights seem to be bursting right above your head, but it wasn’t bad (barring the giant Totoro-shaped tree-bush that blocked our view of the lower fireworks).
Although nobody else I know who went thinks so, the last multiple burst of unfurling fireworks looked like a giant, golden heart—which isn’t too impossible a premise, given that the theme of the show was The Butterfly Lovers…
