The other night

I hefted the garbage can into the trunk of the car, drove it out to the end of the road, out by the mailboxes and the speed bump, for pickup in the morning. Lightning lit the sky. And again. A storm somewhere out over the Gulf, miles north. I turned off the headlamps, opened the door. The noise was almost too much: buzzing, singing, screaming. Frogs and bugs and who knows what else, dancing and screwing and eating. The planet exploding with life.