fireflies escaping
like sparks flying off the fire joining stars and you
– smj, 5/18/2019
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Just a little haiku I wrote for my cousin. I was thinking of childhood memories of parties at their old house… and, of chasing fireflies. We would run through the fields at their house in the night… trying not to trip over the dark while following the sporadic flashes. If we were lucky, we’d manage to catch a few fireflies, and when we did, we would put them in a mason jar with some holes in the lid. We thought we could use them as a lantern.
We would keep them for a bit, but I never wanted to keep them long. I was afraid they would die (thanks Dad). So I’d let them go… sometimes unbeknownst to my cousins while they were busy desperately trying to catch more. Besides, the flies just were not nearly as beautiful or impressive up-close. They just looked like…. well… flies (with big glowy butts). But, with a little added distance? Oh my. They became magical… mystical… lighting up in the dark sky if only for a second… here… then there…. then, wait… where?
I still see them in my backyard sometimes. I don’t try to catch them anymore. My boys are also too old now for that. I don’t think they were ever as impressed by them as I was anyway. Am. I still am. I still like to watch them flicker on and off, until they are too far away to see and I lose track of them. They remind me of the sparks flying off a bonfire… billowing with the smoke up to the stars. I like to try to follow those as well… watch as they rise up to the heavens… until they fade into grey ashes that join us once again. Or until they just mysteriously disappear all together. Possibly morphing into yet another distant star against the black sky. Who’s to say?
Ever not want to go to bed, because you don’t want to deal with tomorrow, and would rather just stay with today? Yeah. That’s where I’m at…. but, look – there, I can see tomorrow grinning at me, slyly, by the light of tonight’s moon… while it slowly, threateningly, creeps closer and closer…
It never cares what I want… especially when it’s carrying in Monday on its back.
I guess, I better make a break for my poor pillow… the one that gave up calling me hours ago…
Wish me luck…
and, trip tomorrow if you see it coming, would ya?
Can’t see the night
through reflective windows.
Can’t feel the rain
through the floors overhead.
Can’t hear my own thoughts
over that damn florescent lightbulb.
Yeah, its buzzing
might just
kill me yet.
But, I know it’s dark out I can feel it creeping in,
and I know it’s been raining yeah, I feel it seeping in
and I think I heard a thought
leaking right out of my head
through windows and floors
it made its escape.
Felt no remorse
when bulb’s buzz
went dead
Morning Sky, still full of night,
in the dark cradled Moon and his light.
She gazed at his face, so full of grace,
together they soared to new heights.
And, all the while, Wind blew with a smile, hoping Dawn to beguile.
Morning Sky, in distance descried
a horizon beset with new lights.
They blew on, one by one, waking up Sun,
as creatures and daytime incite.
And, all the while, Wind blew with a smile, hoping Dawn to beguile.
Morning Sky, still full of night,
cradled Moon in the dark.
She gazed on his face, so full of grace
oblivious to waking up larks. And, all the while, Wind blew with a smile, hoping the dawn to beguile…
fireflies escaping
Samantha Mariah Jane 