Just a few 'final' alterations. I've changed 'our' to 'my'. I can't really speak for the others. 'Gave voice to' is better than 'relived' because I didn't have those fears as a child so how could I relive them? 'Brandished' instead of 'carried' is an improvement - and there's a double meaning there of flaming brand. This is my November 5th Sonnet, then, a bit late:
It wasn't Fawkes's grisly funeral pyre,
nor rockets whizzing up from bottles, nor
spuds roasted black in embers. For sure,
what made my evening was a torch of fire…
The wonder is, my mother let my dad
create these torches made of poles and tin-
cans stuffed with rags and soaked in paraffin,
which he then lit and gave into our hands.
Ten year olds with fire in their hands!
The wonder is no one was hurt in all the years
we blazed about. Later, I gave voice to fears:
did not give my children flaming brands...
But...
it wasn't fireworks made our faces bright;
it was the flames we brandished through the night
