Apaches claim their ancestors
all dance across the onyx sky
then rush to hide where Sun has gone,
a desert world dark, cold, and dry.

The Greeks envision angry sparks
as Hephaestus wields his hefty hammer
to fashion weapons for the gods
or create Achilles' golden armor.

To me they're like the lightning bugs
that flicker on then off in flight
their incandescence much too brief
yet comfort for the soul at night.

These shooting stars flit by and fade
before a man can contemplate.
They symbolize that lives are streaks.
Act now and don't procrastinate.

Author Notes

Please try to imagine a midnight sky full of shooting stars. Such meteor showers are common in the summer months. Apaches are a warlike Native American tribe that lived in the American southwest. Hephaestus is the Olympian god of metal. He was an artisan who worked with all metals at a forge on Mount Olympus, creating jewelry and armor for the other gods and heroes. Achilles was the great Greek hero (see The Iliad) who fought at Troy and was mortally wounded in his heel.