God of the Big and Small

A Mid-Summer's Night Stroll

Out beyond the reach of every
Man-made source of light
I took a quiet summer stroll
As dusk dissolved to night.
Above the west horizon where
The sun had gone to bed
A crescent moon was glowing with
A borrowed light instead.

And rather soon beyond the moon
I started to perceive
What almost is too wonderful
For humans to believe,
That from this planet where we dwell
Our eyes can even see
The edges of a universe
In which our galaxy
Is hardly more than just a speck,
A single flake of snow
Amongst a blizzard-full of stars
Which we will never know
Are even really there at all,
And yet, most likely are
Out somewhere in that great unknown 
Beyond us, oh so far.

But then I noticed something more
When back to earth my gaze
Revealed another miracle:
The earth was all ablaze
With shining, blinking, moving lights
Afloat above the grass.
They didn't seem to notice or 
To mind that I should pass
Precisely through their faerie land,
These silent fireflies,
Here and there and everywhere
Like fallen sparks from skies
Which sparkle in the distance, nature's
Fireworks above,
While here below I marveled at
These lightning bugs I love -
Small and harmless, beautiful,
Extraordinary things
Hovering and darting forth
On fragile faerie wings.

by Gary A. Fellows

Photo graciously provided by Mike Lewinski at Unsplash.com