Nature & Wildlife
The Flasher
Aug 2002
On a warm summer night you can find him
Looking for a thrill in the park,
Flitting in and out of the bushes,
Flashing all the time in the dark.
Although you may call him a firefly
He's a beetle, for what that is worth,
And the light that you see him producing
Is the most economic on earth.
He's flashing 'cos he's searching for a partner
And he's waiting for a flicker on the ground
To tell him that a female is responding
With the message that she's ready to be found.
But even then he has to be quite careful,
Sirens in his world are very real,
And a clever foreign female could be waiting
To eat him as a very tasty meal.
Assuming that his mating is successful
He'll be the dad of several little eggs,
But very soon his short life will be over
And he'll never see his children grow their legs.
Yet in the meantime he can be quite happy
Watching as they practise every night,
For his children at the moment are just glow-worms
But he knows that their future will be bright.
the above work is copyright David Axton © All Rights Reserved
