Lightning Bugs Poem by Patti Masterman

The lightning bugs swarm
Like meandering particle trails
Not colliding not stopping
Against the thick nothingness of indigo

And carpeted tree barks, and the bones of bricks
More corporeal than distant porch lights
Shining against the refutation of night
And the strychnine of a savage darkness
The secret, poisoned shadows from yesterday's arrows

They coalesce into the glowing twilight
And melt like vapours at dawn
Like falling stars vanish
Right after you breathe your wish
While you are still looking
Without even a smoke trail
To show where they used to be