Moonlight and Lightning Bugs
06/26/2010Personal Reflections
Wellfleet MA, July 2010
From the deck behind our house, way off in the distance, I can see the fireworks in Provincetown Harbor. Little bursts of light – red, green, white – flash in the sky and then dissolve. For a moment, I regret not being there. We are too far to see clearly, and the child in me wants the explosion of sound and light directly above my head. But a strong breeze makes the water in the marsh rush past, creating ever-changing ripples that catch the moonlight and shimmer, silver-white on black water, far more satisfying than any glitzy, man-made explosion, no matter how spectacular. In the woods, fireflies flash their own brief, bright signals. Remembered from childhood, I thought they had disappeared in the world, and now they are back his – history and miracle renewed. I am flooded with gratitude.