Fireflies and Stars

Time Fireflies Photograph by Ionut Burloiu

Fireflies in the Garden

By Robert Frost 

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,

And here on earth come emulating flies,

That though they never equal stars in size,

(And they were never really stars at heart)

Achieve at times a very star-like start.

Only, of course, they can’t sustain the part.

 

An allegory between the stars and the fireflies:
We may want to shoot for the stars and be like fireflies to shine like the stars but I say just be yourself, you will shine with your inner light.

Image credit to: Ionut Burloiu of Italy for having chosen as one of the best contributors of “After Midnight” Your Shot assignment at National Geographic.  Thank you Ionut for allowing me to share your photo of my memorable childhood.

Nature at its best

Nature, what nature? 

Being born in a third world country, Philippines, especially in a poor family nature consist of playing in the garbage dump, abandoned lots and slum area. 

There’s hardly any nature where I lived unless I go visit neighbours who have gardens.  I am lucky enough to have a girlfriend whose family allows me to sleep over at their mansion.  

Sabrina is her name.  

In a child’s mind, the house is a jungle.  There is so much vegetation.  A housekeeper waters the garden almost every day to keep it lush.  They have a dog.  It was fun to have a playmate and to be accepted by this rich family. 

Part of playing is going to the dumpsites.  This is FUN.  We collected tons of waste materials to sell for recycling.  Found some parts to build us a scooter.  Collected Coke bottle caps for the Coke versus Pepsi challenge.  The more we collected Coke bottle caps, we won free movie passes. 

In the slum area, we run around on the board walk like horses.  During rainy season, there are so many amphibians to play with such as crabs, tadpoles, dragon flies, water spiders and much more.  At night-time, we hunt for fireflies and put them in a bottle.  We used the bottle as a flashlight.

 Ah, what a memory.  Now this is nature at its best. 

We may be poor but we know how to live the good life.

 

Related Links:

• Fireflies:  Photo credit from My Pretty Pics
• Philippines: To give you an idea.  Click on the link.
• Daily Prompt: Nature