by Paul Fleischman (b. 1952)
Fireflies
Language: English
Light Light
is the ink we use
Night Night
is our parchment
We're
fireflies
fireflies flickering
flitting
flashing
fireflies
glimmering fireflies
gleaming
glowing
Insect calligraphers Insect calligraphers
practicing penmanship
copying sentences
Six-legged scribblers Six-legged scribblers
of vanishing messages,
fleeting graffiti
Fine artists in flight Fine artists in flight
adding dabs of light
bright brush strokes
Signing the June nights Signing the June nights
as if they were paintings. as if they were paintings
We're
flickering fireflies
fireflies flickering
fireflies. fireflies.
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Fleischman (b. 1952), "Fireflies", appears in Joyful Noise; Poems For Two Voices [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ruth Watson Henderson (1932 - 2026), "Fireflies", 2001 [ sa chorus and piano ], from Two Insect Songs, no. 2, Earthsongs
Publisher: Earthsongs [external link] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2026-09-04
Line count: 28
Word count: 80