Lightning Bugs
By Don Iannone

Hot summer night.
Boys playing outside well past their bedtime.
Waiting and watching;
and suddenly
one appears
and then another, and ANOTHER!
Soon the yard is filled with those amazing blinking yellow bugs.

Lightning bugs.
Fireflies.
Magical flying illuminations.
Twinkle, twinkle little star
but how about those lightning bugs?

At first
we are content to just chase them
then the temptation grows beyond control.
Then there is the matter of the empty jelly jar
that beckons to be filled with the glorious flying Edisons.

Grass!
The bugs must have a few blades.
And they need air
so the jar's lid receives a few well-placed stabs
from our new Boy Scout pen knives.

"I'm coming," we shout in unison
as our Moms bellow from the back porch for us to get in the house.
One final decision must be made:
keep the bugs, or let them go?
It's a split vote
meaning we do the opposite of what we did last time.

So, the mysterious winged
twinkle-bugs are freed
at least until tomorrow's night falls:
and then, who knows?