Fireflies/Lightning Bugs

Tonight as I look out my windows the little lights of the fireflies are blinking on and off. I find them very intriguing. When I was a child we called them lightning bugs. We caught them on summer evenings and put them in a mason jar where we watched them blink on and off.  They have a very interesting mating ritual that uses the blinking to attract one another.  Those of you who have been following me may have read this one before. I am reposting it to remind us all that summer is here.

There is an excellent youtube video showing the fireflies of the Smokey Mountains of NC where they all blink in unison on warm summer nights.

The Flight of the Firefly

In the dusky twilight

The B-52’s take flight

As the sun sets behind the trees

Lightning flashes across the sky

From fields of green

Leaving shelter and blade they fly

Looking for that one true soul mate

Flying into the evening breeze

Their neon lights flash

First one

Then three

Then a synchronous light

Signaling their desire finding a mate

No match.com

Just the evening’s calm

Circling in flight above the yard

Blinking in rhythmic pulses

Not making a sound

Not even a whisper

Just a blink of love

To a future mistress

Finding that special connection

A once-in-a-lifetime gift of continuance

As the blushing clouds of evening

With their black eyes float by

The dance of love in flight continues

In the night sky

As darkness rolls in like a blanket

The B-52’s with their love connections

Turn out the lights

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Picture from Pinterest.com