A Wonderland of Rivers and Forests

On the Eve of Summer

It’s the night before the Summer Solstice and I’ve been lounging on the little deck.  The Lightning Bugs are out in force tonight and I’ve got a great seat for this amazing light show.
Their lights are streaking and tracing against a dark curtain of trees that flourish along both sides of the little Ozark creek that runs behind our house.
It’s like having the perfect movie screen to showcase their best beams.

These flies of the fire are flickering in frenzy tonight.  Maybe they know it’s the eve of Summer and they’re stoking the flames with extra in earnest.

Remember

catching Lightning Bugs and putting them into a jar?  You banged out some holes in the lid so they could breathe and you might place the jar on your nightstand;  or hold it under the covers and gaze at the magical  lights till you drifted off into the softest of sleep.

It’s easy to understand why that experience stays with you for all of your days.  It’s a powerful pointer to the more wizardly wonders and mysteries of the natural world.  You can’t feel anything but awe when you ponder this kind of phenomenon.

 

I mean really, a bug with a built-in light switch?
CHANCE or PURPOSE?

 

He turns on his light and takes to the air while gently defusing the darkness of night.

 

A glimmer, a gleam, this bug’s little beam,
ethereal scene for a summer night’s dream

 

(Once upon a Piney, we saw the most amazing display of “lightning” bugs that we have ever seen anytime, anywhere.  It was the last three days of May(about 5 years ago) and our campsite was bordered by beautiful forest land.  When dusk became dark, their lights were so dense and the flickering intense, it seemed like we were witnessing some vast neural network that fired incessantly through the night…it was and is unforgettable!)

WELCOME SUMMER
and
Peace on the River

by .

One Response | Add your Own

  • 1 Philip yazmış:

    Thank you for this evocative essay! Once last year, I saw the same display as you describe. I was outside enjoying the evening air, and I happened to spot a giant old tree with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of fireflies, flickering throughout like Christmas in July. (These magical beetles are to the eye what cicadas are to the ear.) What a magnificent spectacle!

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