Fireflies

June is the time for the rainbow of insects, the firefly, or as we called them back in the neighborhood, “lightning bugs” . I have a hard time describing them as “insects” even, because they do not bite nor harass humans, they only add magic to the din of twilight this time of year.  I admire how they seem to hover just above the lawn, blinking rhythmically and randomly like aircraft coming-in for a secret landing, but never really touching-down.

They are associated with pixies as in the Shakespearean play “A Midsummer-night’s Dream”. I wish upon them and even still try to get one to “light” upon my hand or finger while sitting upon my porch at dusk. I wish upon them; this year I wish for continued good health, that my distant lover is safe, not stressed and for the lucre lubrication that gets the film based upon our reality and us in the same area code “asap”.  

Without destroying their sexy romantic and imaginative evocations, I want to point-out that they are technically called Lampyridae and are from the beetle family “Cleopatra” (don’t ask, ok?), and they use something called bioluminescence to attract the things they reproduce with and/or eat. How do you say “Lampyridae”? Looks kind of like “larvae”. Creepy, but the only beetle that can land on me – The Beatles can always sing to me!  “Bioluminescense” sounds like a good idea for a men’s cologne or lady’s perfume, right?  

When the seas runs dry and The Stars Fall From The Sky, She's a vulnerable flower and she believes in me...

Fireflies always seem to appear out of nowhere in the warm June air, and still amaze me in a child-like fantasy way. Fireflies were the subject of a song by the male American R&B/Soul group The Temptations, back when I was in my Junior year of college which I hope that you can hear below. Melvin really got some deep “timbre” on that record! We called that collection “the black album”, of course the real title of it is “A Song For You”.  Similar to a song about rainbows, I feel that the few songs that refer to fireflies conjure references to successful prestidigitization and monetary gifts! So get one to light upon you finger the next chance you get; even let it rub some of its magic greenish-yellow essence upon your skin, then say a heartfelt prayer that soon what you wished for, you will achieve.