The Secret Life of Things
For the space of a foot,
The firefly’s light goes out:
Loneliness.
~ Hokushi
The firefly floats along in darkness, light,
Dark, light. The floating is revealed alone
By flashing, though the blinking is so slight
That only darkness lets the moss-grown
Wink, winking, winking let itself be seen.
The searcher does not feel the lonely gaps
For he is focused, questing for his queen
Below him somewhere. Under him she maps
His winging progress and his signals for
Her need. Alone they are but not for long.
She flashes out her lust. They both adore
Each other, sharing tersely his stark prong.
The viewer is left out. He feels detached,
That’s all, from buggy loving briefly matched.
~ Phillip Whidden