Lit

poppy light
some lights at a friend’s house

Halfway up the hollow, a dim row of lights below the road: the foxfire log. Starlight gleams in a pool beyond. Here and there, the high-pitched, whispery chittering of flying squirrels. When I reach the houses, I hear a familiar double chirp slowed to a fraction of its normal speed, like an old 78 played at 33 RPM. A lone katydid survives out of that whole, once-thunderous late-summer chorus. Kay… tee… Somehow it’s weathered a week and a half of freezing temperatures, and still finds the strength to call at 47°F. Kay… The nightlight glows through my kitchen window, faint as foxfire. Tee… I don’t think anyone is going to help it complete the phrase, not any longer. I hurry indoors, snap on a light, and log onto my email.

12 Replies to “Lit”

  1. I was slightly disappointed to have my suspicion that they are “just” lights confirmed – given the magic of your hollow I was hoping for some sort of natural phenomenon hitherto unknown to me being responsible, but it’s a sumptuous photograph whatever the “nature” of the subject.

  2. I added a caption to the photo to eliminate confusion. Thanks for the comments (and to the Theriomorph for taking the time to read that old post, too).

  3. Wait a minute – hasn’t somebody slipped a poppy seed pod and a wild cucumber pod onto a string of little white Christmas lights? Very cool, whatever the source.

  4. The lights photo is very pretty, but somehow it makes me crane my neck to the right, to look at it “right side up”.

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