FIREFLIES
(printed here by special request...(0:
Some of this may have been posted before,
but not in this way).
Couldn't sleep
and didn't want to lie here in the dark
waiting for morning....
But it was worth getting up because
When I got out to
where my computer is,
there was a firefly sitting in the middle of the floor
in the inky blackness of the house...
And it was slowly pulsing
I do love fireflies...
I wonder if they are everywhere?
We get thousands of fireflies here some nights...
I remember one night,
going out into the long grass behind our house
and there were so many fireflies
flying back and forth on their travels across the fields
That it reminded me of
time-lapse photography of cities at night,
with cars making light trails
as they race down the freeways...
Another great night...and maybe I told you about this one already...
Was about 5 years ago,
when Mr. Croc and I were staying at a B&B
outside of Charlotte, Vermont
near the Shelburne Museum...
We had arrived earlier in the evening,
After driving for several hours,
So we tossed our bags in our room and decided to
hike up to the top of Mt. Philo
which is just down at the end of the road
near this B&B...
It was a steep walk up the switchback roads
leading to the top.
Probably took us an hour in the growing twilight..
There were beautiful, mature, deciduous trees
all the way up...
so we were sheltered in the green forest twilight
under a high canopy of spreading branches...
very silent.
There were wild columbine and Solomon's Seal plants
covering the forest floor...
Delicate plants trembling slightly
In the drizzle that was falling
And you could taste the forest in the air as you breathed...
The forest absorbed our voices...
Like it was listening and taking us into it...
We reached the top and looked out over the land below...
It was magical...
The farmland and forest of Vermont
laid out to see
before us in the growing darkness...
Then we started down the mountain in the gloom.
Walking along, talking quietly...
And just then, a deer came down the mountain on its own trail.
And stopped on our path just a few feet in front of us...
It stood there, frozen, but seemingly unafraid...
And watched us for awhile,
Then gently leaped from the trail,
barely making a sound
as it resumed its downward path
brushing through the columbines....
Just then,
In the growing darkness
The fireflies began to flash...
dimly at first, but then more and more brilliantly
As if building up into a crescendo of light.
Thousands of them arcing through the dark, wet foliage
all over the mountain, both uphill and down...
So that it felt like we were in an immense glass jar
With fireflies all around us...
It was wondrous... yes... absolutely wondrous..
I was laughing with excitement
It was like flying a kite..
That feeling of being so excited
That you can feel your own laugh
right through your whole body...
And then we were down from the mountain,
Walking through the warm night
Back to our B&B
where we went for a swim in the pool
that was about 3 steps from the patio door
leading from our room...
The only company being a big chubby
Siamese cat that decided to sleep on our bed that night... |
