To a Firefly

You flit around the marshes and in places warm and wet. as a beetle you’re about as bright as any bug can get! You have a tiny flashlight built into your small tummy, but for foes, your bio-luminescence is not yummy! Though when a creature tastes you, they’re sure to spit you out, There’s something even better that your light is all about! You’re looking for a sweetie when you flash your little glow, and when you synchronize in groups, it’s like a disco show! How I loved to chase you when I was just a kid, and I’d catch you in a jar with holes poked in its lid. That wasn’t nice of me. It must have caused you fright. You were only lending magic to my summer night. How I miss you, lightning bug, known as firefly. And how I wish that I could see you in this western sky. Even in the Midwest state that I left behind I hear you are becoming more difficult to find. Too many fields paved over; no places you can hide. Too many lights from people and too much pesticide. People use their headlights; this is confusing you. Your blinking light gets all mixed up. You don’t know what to do. Fewer are the places where, dear firefly, you can stay. How sorry we will all be when your magic fades away! Written July 16, 2016 for the contest of David Lindsay