Nature’s Fireworks

A News Response Poem

When the air hums soft enough
on a summer night stretched thin with heat,
we come home from the noise and glitter,
pops still echoing in our ears –
the sky, just an hour ago, a riot of sparks.

Now we park the car and wander out,
quiet as moths, lured by a different show,
leaning into the hush between cricket songs.
Some say it’s science – larvae, rain, soft winters –
but we know better.
It’s a promise the earth keeps
when we remember to be gentle.

Fireflies rise like shy confessions,
slow blinks of forgiveness drifting over the fields
tiny lanterns pulsing in the trees,
not loud, not grand —
but lasting, if we let them last.

The real wonder is here,
waiting in the dark grass and low branches,
and all we have to do
is look up, slow down,
and remember
how to care for what glows.

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Author’s Note: We have noticed the abundance of fireflies this year so I was interested to read a piece in Axios about the reason behind this and, of course, had to do a little more digging.

Discover Magazine: Are We Really the Last Generation to Enjoy Twinkling Fireflies in the Summer? Learn more about firefly population decline, and how it might not be too late for these glowing insects to bounce back.

National Geographic: Will we still see fireflies this summer?

Axios: Iowans haven't seen this many fireflies in over a decade

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