Fireflies

Every evening
as the sun dips
low in the horizon
a calm settles.

Fireflies blink
in dusky 
summer skies
while the fire crackles

and laughter 
breaks into the night.
If I am brave
and open my widening

eyes to see
into the falling
darkness, I can
picture tomorrow

I can dream
I can feel hope
rising in 
my bones—

the kind 
of hope
that speaks truth
but lives dreams.

Every evening
as the fireflies dance,
if you know how
to listen for the whispers

of tomorrow,
you can tell yourself 
who you want 
to become.

—Carla Picklo Jordan