I put on my boots to the laughter of young children
\nI stroll outside with my lantern to search for the fireflies
\nThe sky is clear and the evening appears perfect
\nThere is a light breeze tapping the ferns and beech trees
\nIn the distance, notes from a piano sound beautifully
\nIt is nearly dark, nearly showtime
\nI shudder with excitement over the wonder soon to appear
\nI remember catching a firefly once in my palm, as a child
\nBut mostly, I have simply admired them from afar
\nThis night, I yearn only to relive a piece of my youth
\nAnd to ask them a favor
\nNow that my time is nearing its end, I may not ever see this sight again
\nThe cancer is becoming too intense, too great a mountain for me to scale
\nAs nightfall comes, I’m aware of my own looming near
\nAs I gaze to the West, the setting sun falls beneath the horizon
\nI sit alone with my thoughts – a lifetime before my eyes – and I wait
\nIn some ways, I long to wait all night, drinking in each moment, as moments are now so precious
\nBut before long, the lightshow begins
\nThe fireflies must have known as I waiting
\nThey come in full force, embracing me in their light and warmth
\nAs if to bless my requested promise and to say goodbye, all at once
\nI was grateful<\/p>\n
From here within Heaven, looking down towards earth
\nI wonder if the fireflies remember me as fondly as I do them
\nWhether they do or they don’t really does not matter
\nFor as long as they continue to shine their light on my children
\nLetting them know – through their warmth – that I’m always with them
\nAfter all, a promise is a promise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I put on my boots to the laughter of young children I stroll outside with my lantern to search for the fireflies The sky is clear and the evening appears perfect There is a light breeze tapping the ferns and beech trees In the distance,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":692,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1136,441,5],"tags":[4880,5342,4700,1572,5343,1806,3456],"class_list":["post-116788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","category-official-marathon-prompts","category-poetry-prompt-responses","category-poetry-prompts","tag-2022-poetry-marathon","tag-cancer-tribute-poems","tag-childhood-poems","tag-family-poems","tag-firefly-poems","tag-jill-eisnaugle","tag-jill-halasz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/692"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116889,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116788\/revisions\/116889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}