Firefly Poem by Bill Galvin

The firefly blinks, and blinks again,
Against dark shadows of night
On a perpetual search
On an invisible flight,
And reminds us of the briefness
And fragileness
Of our lives,
Of our times,
Of our loves on this earth;
And our eyes are left numbed
As we wait,
Staring, straining,
To see the next fleeting flash
Of hope,
Of light, within the night.

One moment alit and delighted,
Then disappointed when she's gone;
All the while, darkness trying to reign,
But life, in all its cycles, goes on,
Proving all must finish,
And we will all become done;
As doors open to us at beginning and at end;
To light we go, from light we come;
And life and death are but one.

Another loved one leaves us behind,
And we are diminished by her absence;
For we never know when, or for how long…
Yet we go on,
Because, though brief it may be,
That light lingers in our hearts,
And forms the melody of our song.

And the love of that light,
And the love from that light…
It lasts forever;
It anchors in the sea of our memories;
And it will lift us up,
Light our ways, and ease our burdens,
When we recall her laugh,
And the flash of her easy, everlasting smile.

July 31,2017
(for my cousin, Dawne Marie)