On the Lord’s Day
(after church)
apparently
it is the custom to go out
and shoot at things —
we hear the sharp report
across the hills

It must fit in
to the same leisure
of wind chimes
and great trees waving graceful limbs,
it must be part
of insect hum
and the bright chatter
of extended family visits.
We may get used to it at length,
this signature sound
of Sunday afternoons.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 5, 2018