Draft in the author’s style. This poem was written for Poet of Bedtime Hush to sit beside the author’s own readings, and is waiting for the author’s review. The commentary is a working draft too.
When the sun slipped down behind the hill and the crickets tuned their strings,
The fireflies lit their tiny lamps and lifted up their wings.
They wrote in loops of amber light across the darkening glade,
A lullaby of glimmers in a gently blinking parade.
One flickered for the sleepy fawn asleep beside the stream,
One glowed above the nesting wren, and one lit up my dream.
Blink, blink, went the slow refrain, for tired hearts to hear,
Blink, blink, until the night grew soft and every star came near.
I held a jar in the summer grass, then opened up the lid,
For lights are meant to travel free, and so the fireflies did.
They rose like sparks from a quiet fire and scattered through the air,
And sang me off to slumber with a glow beyond compare.
Poet of Bedtime Hush · Hear it on the channel ↗
Commentary
A summer evening, a meadow and a swarm of fireflies become a lullaby written in light. The poem also carries a small lesson about letting bright things go free.
As “the crickets tuned their strings,” the fireflies “lit their tiny lamps” and wrote “loops of amber light across the darkening glade.” Their glow reaches “the sleepy fawn,” “the nesting wren” and the speaker’s own dream, while a slow refrain of “blink, blink” calms the night.
The speaker holds “a jar in the summer grass” and then opens “up the lid,” because “lights are meant to travel free.” The freed fireflies rise “like sparks from a quiet fire” and sing the speaker “off to slumber.”