In Observance of Earth Hour 8:30 p.m. March 25, 2023: Would you kill a firefly?

In Observance of Earth Hour 8:30 p.m. March 25, 2023

and Earth Day 2023  April 22, 2023*

Theme: Invest In Our Planet.

Would you kill a firefly?

Yes, man is insect buster, self righteous, self-proclaimed - but would he dare to kill a firefly just the same?

Dr Abe V Rotor

Boreal firefly (Photuris lucicrescens). Right, lower photo: A firefly on a leaf. 

Fireflies might be both pollinators and predators*

 Firefly Tour Animation**

Field study of insects in Amadeo Cavite led by the author (3rd from 

right) as professor, Graduate School University of Santo Tomas .

Man is the insect buster; self proclaimed, strong and bold;

He conquers his greatest enemy, wasting no time.

He has read enough books, and turned away from the old.

He’s Pied Piper now in new adventure in his prime.

To the rescue, he rid the world of aliens and all their kin;

"I am Gulliver," he said to the imagined Lilliputians,

With gloves and boots, armed with tools of the modern kind,

He saw himself riding to the West against the Indians.

Make way for this nemesis, the bugs run for your lives;

They dropped dead, crushed, unbearable was the pain.

Their shelter stormed, their nests torn, so with their hives.

It’s reminiscent of Pompeii where the ruins reign.

The air is stilled, there’s no more music in the night;

The pond is clear, but where have the fishes gone?

Plants still bloom, but their flowers are no longer bright.

Where are the bees and butterflies that meet the sun?

Frogs no longer croak, silent are the fields and the trees;

Where’s the cicada shrilling with joy, the cricket at night?

The melodious songs and calls of birds that never cease.

The mayfly’s visit, or the moth’s over a candlelight?

Suddenly the world became still. Didn't Rachel Carson

Tell in Silent Spring the birds didn't arrive one spring?

Or in biblical times, didn't a cloud of death over a zone

Killed creatures one by one, the survivors migrating?

Where have all the sweetest sugar and flowing silk gone?

Their makers, the busy bee and the naïve worms?

They too, have been stilled forever by the same poison

That killed the evil ones and their ugly forms.

Didn't Alexander the Great die on the Euphrates

Of malaria? Or the Pharaoh Menes of bee venom?

Thousands died building the Panama Canal and Suez,

And more death blamed to insects still unknown.

Who would like the fly around? But without it the dead

Would litter the ground, more so without the Scarabid.

Who would eat remnants of an enemy, diseases they spread?

For certain man doesn't like to die first? God forbid.

His joy to conquer lies in his genes, even against his kind,

Much less the lowly crawlers, for revenge or just game;

Yes, man is insect buster, self righteous, self-proclaimed -

But would he dare to kill a firefly just the same? ~

Acknowledgement: *beneficialbugs.org**Firefly Tour Animation Guiddoo World Travels Pvt Ltd. www.guiddoo.com1276

*Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. The official theme for 2023 is Invest In Our Planet. Wikipedia