The More You Look The More You See

Stars and Fire Flies

Dear friend,

I’ve never seen fire flies, except in films and on the tv.

At first there were two blinking in the gathering darkness, as stars began to emerge over the mountain peaks, the sky tinged with blue, as if the sunlight had been stored in the rocks.

In the garden beneath the wooden balcony of our rented mountain house, amongst the broken down fence posts in among the grasses and wild flowers two fire flies are floating like fairy lights.

Chiara insists there would be more.

Mind already blown by the beauty of it I pull on my boots and we walk through the fresh mountain air, away from the lights of the hamlet up where the woods begin.

It works on you in a way that’s hard to describe. A subtle, quiet joy trickling inside like a mountain spring. A beauty that stops the mind with wonder as the stars show themselves more and more until you can’t believe what you’re looking at.

Improbably far away, yet visible to the human eye, the milky way splashed across the roof of the world, star upon star upon star. Inconceivable energy pouring into the universe and the woods and surrounding fields are full of stars.

We walk up a single track into the woods. I can just make out Chiara’s silhouette frames by the leaves of the trees and the foliage, sparks of light flying all around her.

It makes me think of the “Little Prince.”

We sit in the dark with lights blinking in the night air, the stars massing overhead.

You can’t touch them or they’ll die. Lucciole in Italian. They come so close we have to step away to preserve them. Above our heads now and to the side, ephemeral lights the woods full of magic.

Up here, like this you know that we live in an enchanted world.

Remember the stars they whisper to the night.

Star child.

Child of the universe.

Remember who you are.

This valley.

The mass of the mountains press a greeting into your hand.

You can feel their energy.

Chiara laments there are kids in cities who’ve never known this wonder.

“It’s not just the kids,” I’m thinking.

Till tomorrow

Love

Mikey