Summer Poem

July Midnight
By: Amy Lowell

Fireflies flicker in the tops of trees,
Flicker in the lower branches,
Skim along the ground.
Over the moon-white lilies
Is a flashing and ceasing of small, lemon-green stars.
As you lean against me,
Moon-white,
The air all about you
Is slit, and pricked, and pointed with
sparkles of lemon-green flame
Starting out of a background of vague,
blue trees.

This is one of my favorite poems. I learned it my Senior year of High School. When I recited it to my class, my teacher (Mr. Pile) told me not to forget it and to recite it to my "lover" (the whole class laughed when he said "lover") someday. I did mention it to Paul, I guess he's not into poems because he laughed and made some comment about how you can't enjoy the fireflies when there are so many mosquitoes around. Ah, true love!!

I do miss fireflies though. When we lived in Kansas you could see them in the bushes or trees at night. I think they are truly beautiful, yes beautiful, insects.