Riding the Rocket's Tale

When the skies fill with bursting lights
And all cheer the fireworks display,
I think back through so many nights
To when I flew over Cathay.

I was apprentice to a monk,
A master of Tao alchemy.
It was my job to mind his junk
As he sought immortality.

Each day he mixed some this and that
To capture life's elusive spark.
He found more ways to kill a cat
Than the trees can grow kinds of bark.

Each night ere I could go to sleep,
I had to clean the testing shed.
All matters of things I had to sweep
Into the bin besides my bed.

But one time, too full was the bin
And I felt down on my whole lot.
I gathered up that day's sweeping
And hid it all beneath my cot.

I fell in bed, so sorely tired,
And blew my candle a small puff.
I did not see the spark that fired
The reaction amongst that stuff.

And with a bang, my bed took flight
Through the roof and past the treetop -
Gave those monks a helluva fright --
Up it went with no plan to stop.

Beneath me grew a sparkling tail
As explosions pushed me higher.
Through clouds and sky, I learned to sail,
There, upon my bed on fire.

Oh, while it lasted, it was great,
'Though I do not recommend it.
You'd enjoy the view - it's top-rate -
But not the ground when you hit it.