The sirens had stopped
but their echo was in our ears.
The lights of the police cars
and emergency vehicles
spun and danced dizzily
across the buildings and people.
Suddenly, it seemed like all the holidays
rolled into one moment.
The lights were Christmas,
and the police and detectives
hunted and lifted
and searched like Easter.
The fireworks were over,
smoke and sulfur still in the air
burning our nostrils.
But most of all Halloween --
the blood,
the blood splattering the walls.