you are a firefly in the night
it's dark
it's cold
the clouds are thick tonight
no stars
no moon
there is no light anywhere
you can't see or hear your friends
you feel so alone, so vulnerable
you are afraid to turn on your light
you don't know what is waiting out there in the dark
you are afraid
but,
you are a firefly
you have a light inside of you
it is your natural inclination to shine brightly
keeping your light hidden for too long hurts
even though you are afraid, you switch on your light
it feels so good to shine so brightly that you begin to fly around in a beautiful, ecstatic dance
you forget to be afraid
you shine and shine and fly and dance
you laugh
you look around again
and you see so many other lights in the night
dancing, shining, laughing, playing
with you
you are joy
you are light
and so are they
your courage, your joy, your light, your dance, have given them courage to come out and shine too.
together you light up the night
the world would be a more sorrowful place without the courage, joy, playfulness, and delight, of you fireflies.
thank you my firefly friends, for having the courage to shine your light in dark places.
when I am afraid to shine I draw strength from your light, your joy, your dance.
thank you.
I love you.
Oh Dawn, when I came back to Asheville from southern California, when my dad was sick, I realized how much I missed fireflies, the real buggy ones. They are amazing. They fly like little helicopters and they light up, amazing.
ReplyDeleteYou're one of my fireflies too.
I love you.
Jeannie, I know!! they are so cool. we saw fireflies in Colorado this summer. it was the strangest thing. I've never seen them in Colorado before that I can remember. and we saw them in Little Rock when we went there too. they are so cool!
ReplyDelete<3
Dawn! This a wonderful piece of Art and Expression... this Firefly Dance... It is the essence of Hope and Gratitude and Inspiration...I love these words you have sewn together with your heart strings..it is a beautiful tapestry indeed I want to hang it on my wall...I will fall asleep with a smile on my face...Grace...Love Jesse
ReplyDeletethank you so much for this and for inviting me to read about the eloquence of the firefly. i am up again in the middle of the night trying to find some light in my experience, so I really appreciate this metaphor tonight. big hugs - laine
ReplyDeletebig hugs to you! <3
ReplyDeleteIt's so easy to forget that we're all fireflies for other people, and it's a random thing, people we don't even know, just exactly the way that fireflies don't think about how people are being charmed by them, they just flash their little lights. My day has been made wonderful so many times by people who just passed through my life for a few seconds. I'm going to commit today to charming strangers.
ReplyDeleteBuzzzzzzz... buzzzzzz......
ReplyDeleteyou are light
and dark
me too...
Love the words and the feeling of it. I feel like I am flying now
"it's so easy to forget that we are all fireflies for other people." isn't that the truth.
ReplyDeleteI'm committing today to wearing a smile, especially for the people who take me just as I am, smile or no. :-)
and at this moment I have deep, deep gratitude for those of you who shine your lights so bravely.
thank you. thank you. thank you.
gina- hug!
tink- hug!
All is well, in perfection. Find the sweet nectar hanging in this moment always. Even if in a Turkish prison in the dark.
ReplyDeleteLightning bugs is what I learned as a child to call fireflies. We had some in our yard in Colorado this summer (2014). We started watching for them with eagerness and wonder. I joined a firefly watch list to enter sighting data for scientists to track. I find it to be a beautiful metaphor ~ helping to count and track fireflies in my little corner of the world...Jennifer
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