My Grandmother raised black Cocker Spaniels
she called “Midnights.”
Her care of them taught me
kindness, love, and quick thinking.
My dog’s name was Glow Worm,
and The Mills Brothers sang her a song,
“Shine little glow worm, glimmer, glimmer.
Shine little glow worm, shimmer, shimmer.”
The song is about a beetle, and a nightingale,
the bird that sang throughout the night
while the beetle’s larval sac
cast a brilliant but toxic light.
The nightingale, exhausted,
announced that she needed a snack –
but the worm, for fear of being accosted
answered back:
Little bird, did you admire my brilliant light,
as much as I admired your singing?
I know you’d hate to do me wrong,
as I would hate to ruin your winging!
Thus was born a diplomatic grub,
who knew that what goes ’round
comes ’round too.
2008
