Firefly Sonnet | Abhijit Naskar | Brit Actually: Nursery Rhymes of Reparations

Firefly, oh firefly,
why do you gleam so!
Who do you try to impress,
who is the object of your glow!

Oh, ye of little sight,
said the gentle little beacon!
Creatures with light eternal,
don’t shine to stir public opinion.

I gleam, ’cause that’s my life,
I know no other way of existence.
Puny apes gotta find an agenda,
for most are anemic of effulgence.

And you have the gall to call us bugs,
while your mind is stuck in gutter!
My fire bears proof of existence,
you carry yours as cheap souvenir.

(Note: as a biologist I must mention, this is a purely poetic piece, not to be analyzed with science, for evolutionarily speaking, glowworms use their glow to warn away predators, and attract mate.)