Firefly Garden

A Poem by s.azeem

Poem, short story. Somewhat inspired by my first love which was perhaps the most painful thing I wouldn't take back. I don't know if the mantis is wicked or if there is really any victim to the story.

Perched in the sun grass, as still as its blades, there lie a little mantis who was busy watching insects pass. Though it stood silently in its camouflage thinking it was hidden, the sheen of its abdomen was unmistakable and amid the entire garden, perhaps it was the most beautiful thing.

As it darkened, a different creature begun aglow. Fireflies that dipped in between the long ferns, glowing brightly and sometimes sinking out of view, but never disappearing.

The mantis watched them. He gazed intently. It was beautiful and it was unbearable.

When a single firefly strayed nearby, he saw was manifest of the holy and let his praying limbs relax. The fly dimmed its abdomen periodically, when dim, the Mantis who'd yearned for her light found she'd become nothing again and saw only the drapery of night. She had wings but wasn't an angel, just a bug, just protein. So this time when she she glew, the mantis defiled her flight, chewing off her wings whom slapped violently against his head. As he chewed through, they were so thin and so thorough. Now in its hands like prey, he wouldn't know what to do. And holding it so tightly, had the firefly still retained its wings they'd surely abandoned hope, and hung lifelessly by then.

Yet still, as the mantis held the writhing insect closer, it flickered with a semblance of warmth. He could feel none from it. Exerting so much energy in the night, he'd grown cold. The firefly was indeed colder, performing the miracle of creating pure cold light without wasteful heat. But the devout mantis believed her warmth lied somewhere within her and opened his mouth so widely, as no Mantis had ever done before, slowly swallowing the firefly whole. His acid would slowly digested the bug as it descended and hers would give his abdomen light. When the mantis turned its head, his abdomen of shone periodically and brightly with the flicker of an insect which belonged to him. And she would belong to him long enough for her bubbling voice to became his conscience. And long enough for her mate to crawl away to safety.