Fireflies
Hummingbird Featured Poem. Fireflies.
By Mary Oliver
Fireflies
At Blackwater
fireflies
are not even a dime a dozen–
they are free,
and each floats and turns
among the branches of the oaks
and the swamp azaleas
looking for another
as, who doesn’t?
Oh, blessings
on the intimacy
inside fruition,
be it foxes
or the fireflies
or the dampness inside the petals
of a thousand flowers.
Though Eden is lost
its loveliness
remains in the heart
and the imagination;
he would take her
in a boat
over the dark water;
she would take him
to an island she knows
where the blue flag grows wild
and the grass is deep,
where the birds
perch together,
feather to feather,
on the bough.
And the fireflies,
blinking their little lights,
hurry toward one another.
And the world continues,
God willing.
Editor’s Note: I’ve been thinking about fireflies this summer, having only seen a few here and there so far… even when outside late into the night. I’ve been wondering if the population of fireflies has been dying off, or if I am not seeing as many because I live in a village now, where the lots are smaller, there is brighter light at night, and there is less open space. In my childhood memories I recall at least hundreds of them each summer. As the adults sat outside at night, talking softly under starlit skies, my twin brother and I ran around in our backyard, following the “lights”, and cupping our hands to catch them and immediately let them go.
In fact the population of fireflies has been decreasing due to changes to “habitats,” pesticide use over the years, and for sighting, “light pollution.”
When I was researching our next Hummingbird poetry selection, I came upon Mary Oliver’s poem, Fireflies, and with fireflies being top of mind, it called out to me. This is a beautiful poem through which Oliver pays homage to the beauty, lushness, and essence of summer, including fireflies. She deftly highlights the closeness, love, connection, and intimacy in fruition.
Mary Oliver is one of the best loved American poets. Fireflies was first published in Oliver’s Poetry Collection Dream Work in 1986, and it is also included in Devotions, Selected Poems of Mary Oliver 2017. Oliver won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984. She taught at various colleges and universities over the years and held the Catherine Osgood Foster Chair for Distinguished Teaching at Bennington College. Mary Oliver died in 2019.
