Poetry Sunday: Firefly by Jacqueline Woodson

As a child in the country - no television to distract me in those days - one of my favorite activities on a late summer evening was chasing fireflies, or lightning bugs as we called them then. I liked to catch them in a jar to make my own special flashlight. (My mother always made me let them go, of course. ) 

There were plenty of fireflies in those days, enough to light up those summer evenings. Not so many these days. Watching them twinkle in the dusk as the sun went down is a fond memory that will, I hope and wish, always be with me. "Firefly wishes always come true."

Firefly

by Jacqueline Woodson

It's almost May
and yesterday

I saw a firefly.

You don't see

them a lot

in the city.

Sometimes

in the park

in the near dark

one comes out

you'll hear

a little kid shout

Lightning bug! Firefly!

It's almost May

and yesterday

I caught a firefly in my hand.

First firefly I

seen in a 

long, long time.

Make a wish,

Miss Edna said.

Make a good one.

Firefly wishes always come true.