Alex Gonzalez

Within the labyrinth I lie

Dear Luna's tepid glow

Is too unlit to navigate

The maze and find my Home

 

I've yelled and cried to no reply

The search has lost its hope

For ample time I've tried to find

Where she could've roamed

 

My legs are languid now tonight

I need to rest my soles

Atop the sand I squeeze between

Jagged chollas, boles

 

They serve as hugs in wintry times

Thorny throes - warming, though!

When she fled she thieved my fleece

And left me in the cold

 

Upon the welkin are my eyes

Where the crows circle slow

Telling the murder I'm deceased

I get no funeral

 

Mainlined inside my blood supply

Is where the ghosting flows

Infects my heart and arteries

My lids begin to close

 

A din within the murky night!

Then a susurrus - "Hello?"

Startled I wake and wait for beasts

Only silence follows

 

On the side of my sight's a light

A rounded gleam of gold

Warped to hazy orbs as I weep

Toward me, the light floats

 

I sniffle wanly. "Hi Firefly,

Can you lead me back home?"

The little lamp lands on my feet

Bright his golden light glows!

 

"I have lost her within the night

She's too quick when she bolts

But she calls for me as she flees

Oh, it puzzles me so!

 

Because you travel via sky

Do you know where she roamed?

Her hidey-hole you must've seen

High above the tangles."

 

Then the firefly flies up high

I stand with renewed hope

In the dark, the light's so shiny!

Though he's so swift I lope

 

The buzz is silent as he flies

There's no shot he made those

Strident sounds inside the weeds

Who'd stalk and not approach?

 

He picks up pace, I start to stride

Closer home, I hear her croaks

Within the night, the echoes ring

Voice unmistakable

 

Words discerned; my name, she cries

It seemed mere feet ago

I grin and wipe away my cheeks

"Firefly, almost home!"

 

Two corners turned, there she lies

I find my voice, my home!

I shout her name and she sees me;

My soul's no longer cold

 

There she is, dead of night, divine

Laying among the brome

In and out, the kind of beauty

No tome could ever hold

 

Instinct declares it's my demise

Of my own accord I chose

But without her I'm so lonely -

Afraid to brave the cold

 

She's indeed the Queen of the Night

When I get close I'm poked

But her open arms look cozy

So I say this time I won't

 

Some cacti have a hundred spines

Of that, I'm resentful

For to what extent must I bleed

For me to grow a backbone?

 

But I can't stand myself at night

And dread my days alone

Who am I without the Queen?

That, I wish not to know

 

So I approach, she hugs me tight

Glochids tear scars once sewn

But I ignore the blood seeping

And I sigh - at last I'm home!