House #123 - Fireflies 7

A Painted House A Day
House #123
Fireflies 7

 

American Life in Poetry: Column 280
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
Marilyn Kallet lives and teaches in Tennessee. Over the years I have read many poems about fireflies, but of all of them hers seems to offer the most and dearest peace.

Fireflies 

In the dry summer field at nightfall,

fireflies rise like sparks.

Imagine the presence of ghosts

flickering, the ghosts of young friends,

your father nearest in the distance.

This time they carry no sorrow,

no remorse, their presence is so light.

Childhood comes to you,

memories of your street in lamplight,

holding those last moments before bed,

capturing lightning-bugs,

with a blossom of the hand

letting them go. Lightness returns,

an airy motion over the ground

you remember from Ring Around the Rosie.

If you stay, the fireflies become fireflies

again, not part of your stories,

as unaware of you as sleep, being

beautiful and quiet all around you.

 

I hope you are enjoying the Fireflies series!
Stay tuned for house #124, 125, and 126 - Fireflies 8,9, and 10.
I don't post to my Blog on the weekends. Although sometimes I surprise myself.
 I will post on Monday again.
Have a great weekend!

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