The Fireflies are Out Tonight

by Diane Sprague

The fireflies are out tonight. Their sparkling lights are scattered everywhere. Come see them! Come join the magic of a night with tiny glitters, sharp and golden.

The world is sleepy. The zombie stares and blank faces remain in the void. No one is ready for the dazzling dance. Instead, they repeat their circular conversations which are whispered to the walls. Idiots applaud their meaningless jabber. They turn to face the idiots, but find themselves staring into cold, smudged mirrors. Aha, they declare, this truth is good enough for me.

“I am a simple man.”

“God’s ways are beyond us. We must have faith. We must stay humble.”

“We must not turn our eyes to that which only God can understand.”

“Stay in our place. Stay quietly in our place.”

Only one person steps away from the mumbling crowd.

“I want to see the fireflies,” she says to herself. She wanders off and finds a path leading to a waterfall. She sits before it and imagines it to be something rather grand. “I have seen this waterfall before; behind it, if one is willing to hike a few miles, there is another waterfall.”

It fascinates her because it is so high, so unreachably high, and it promises Something more behind it. Nothing is commonplace and dull when one goes out to seek the fireflies. Life spreads out before the seeker with a promise of the heights, the knowledge, the mysteries, and the wonders.

She decides that she can fly. And of course, she can, for she too is a lightening bug, a tiny flash of light that can reach up to the sky. She can join the dance, the magic, and the joy of a world that was made for those who would choose to escape.

Below her is the accusing crowd. They point up at her and frown.

“She is a witch,” they declare.

Their angry slander does not concern her. She only flies higher and the world below turns into a dark plain speckled with tiny flashes of light.

God is not threatened or angered by her daring flight. She only hears the eternal laughter of a surprising dream that whispers its reality to the one who would not sleep.