a lost firefly trapped in capped mason jar,
my luciferin fading like embers
untended, confinement crushing bright star
of hope. Ebony wings seem dismembered
by despair, wires of legs and antennae
curl in despondent concession to this
transparent cell with its taunting display
of earth and air that must lure yet dismiss
my life posed in glass like shriveled raisin
in clear gelatin, framed on this window
sill, longing to be free in wind rising
through leaves of distant oaks, my body’s glow
signaling to some lover in nearby
garden I’ll touch her soon or surely die.
Roger Armbrust
December 2, 2007
