A Jill-of-all-trades (master of one: disco dancing), Sydney Smith has published poems and biophysics research. Suffering from FOMO, she studied both physics and philosophy. Nature’s mystique inspires her to share science through storytelling. She can be reached at sydneylynsmith@gmail.com
She can be reached at sydneylynsmith@gmail.com
Daytime Fireflies
The hike down to the waterfall is as slippery
as buttered corn on the cob with a few bites missing.
A throaty shhhh warns of the bubbly white horizon,
and audible power seeps into open ears, taking residence
in the space once occupied by meditations on balance.
But it is the daytime fireflies who enchant.
I mean the ones birthed as jutting rocks cut
the falls open, spurting the fireflies into life.
Into a chaotic descent, a quantization of the waterfall
whose whole flow, in turn, smooths the rocks.
We each help form the world in which we live
as we spin our webs ‘til they catch,
our individual souls forged by our own falls.
And, you know, the daytime fireflies
look like they’re having so much fun
it almost makes you want to jump with them.