The Glow-Worm

[gentle music] The Fable of the Glow Worm

by Barry J.

Northern.

There was once a glow worm who emerged out

into the world for the first

time and beheld the night sky.

While her sisters took

their places on the blades of grass to

await the menfolk, she

stayed gazing at the stars.

Before long,

Stargazer's sisters began to glow

and twinkle

around her in the grass.

To the young glow worm, it

was a pretty sight,

but not as glorious as the stars above.

Now it is the way of glow worms for the

menfolk and womenfolk to

each be blessed with a different gift.

The menfolk may fly among the heavens,

yet are dull to

behold. The womenfolk glow like gems,

yet are

wingless and must remain among the tall

grass.

It was time for each of the womenfolk to

attract a mate with her beauty, and

so soon the evening air buzzed with the

flapping of the menfolk's

wings.

Said Stargazer,

"I desire not to be like my sisters, for

they live an ordinary life."

And so she began to climb the

tallest stem she could find,

looking up at the stars all the while

as if trying to reach them.

From time to time,

she would look back at her tail,

and she began to

believe it glowed more brightly than her

sisters, for the

higher she climbed,

the smaller her sisters' lights appeared

and the larger her own glow seemed to her.

One by one,

Stargazer watched her sisters' lights go

out,

for as soon as each one

was paired with a mate,

she would glow no more

and would settle down to make family with

him.

"Why can't I be like the stars," she said,

"and burn all

night, high in the sky for all to see

and love?"

She came to rest at the top of the great

stem and thrust her

tail high and bright.

Many menfolk came to her, but she

turned them all away saying,

"I shall not let you dim my light.

I must share it with the world."

After a time, hers

was the only light left among the grasses,

and seeing only lightless glow worms

crawling beneath her, living ordinary

lives,

Stargazer believed she must be special

like the

stars.

The night grew cold

and Stargazer began to feel tired,

but she would not dim her glow,

for she sought to impress those beneath

her.

Before long, a young man,

the only glow worm without a mate,

alighted atop the great stem in front of

Stargazer.

Said he,

"Your light is the highest and brightest,

and you are beautiful to

behold. Will you make family with me?"

"I will not," she said,

"for then I will glow no more

and become as

dull as everyone else."

"Tell me," said he,

"how long do you think your beautiful glow

will last?" "For as

long as the stars." "Then what will you do

come morning,

for the sun outshines them all?"

Stargazer felt more tired now,

and her glow was already beginning to

dim. She made no reply.

The young man took flight saying,

"I will return again

soon. If you then choose not to accept me,

I will bother

you no more."

At first, Stargazer scoffed,

for the young man was dull.

But the more tired she grew,

the more his words made their

effect on her.

She dwelt upon what the future might

bring,

and when the young man returned,

she had the sense at

last to agree to make family with him.

Though her light went out,

she loved her husband, and

when her children

were born, she beheld

that the slow-burning fire within her

heart was

brighter than any star. It

was an invigorating light, not a

tiring one, and it was a light

that would never dim.

That

was track number one from the album

Meditative Guitar

by Jeff Wall from magnatune.com.