Fireflies Poem by Virna Sheard

True lovers' words are deathless things;
Eros, the little god, and wise,
Catches them all,-gives to them wings,
And turns them into fireflies!

Words that are sweet as a caress,
And wild, bright words no will can tame;
Soft words of haunting tenderness,-
Words that are like a blue-white flame.

The magic word, the jewelled word,
The word that hides a thousand fears,-
These all the perfumed winds have heard,
Through all the immemorial years!

Not one is lost;-by old sea walls,
And over beds of mignonette,
And through lost lanes,-when darkness falls,
In loveliness they sparkle yet.

Then down the velvet sea of night,
Like little lighted ships asail,
They pass away, and out of sight,-
Companioned by the nightingale.