Dusk falls
Light dims
Hazy purple glow behind the trees.
First a squint as the shadows lengthen,
Inky wells of blackness pooling and extending from tree trunks up the path,
as a reluctant need to turn on my headlamp takes priority.
In the depth of the forests,
Stars do not shine,
Moonlight does not trickle in.
Just the wind in the boughs,
My hand invisible in front of my eyes,
Open or shut, it makes no difference.
And yet, when the darkness seems complete,
In a moment of patience before the mad scramble to the car,
With the light off,
To breathe in the night.
Pinpricks of luminescent insects,
Fireflies, lightening bugs, Lampyrids,
Dance before my eyes.
Like the lure of an angler fish
They wander through my vision.
Doing nothing to light up the forest,
Rather providing points of focus among the trees.
Hovering, dancing,
Like tiny fallen stars,
Winking in and out
Out and in.
If I’m lucky, they will land on me.
Moment broken by the crackle from the radio,
Light turned on,
Trees thrown into stark relief,
Firefly magic lost,
Their glimmer invisible in the beam of my headlight.
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