For my father

Dark of night
Transforms the verdant green forest
Into a land of mystery.
Stars glitter overhead, watching as
Holding her hand tightly,
Father guides daughter
Through the maze of rustling leaves
Which whisper secrets
Only they can hear.

They emerge into a clearing
Where the trees stand like warriors,
Guarding sacred ground
And wait in silence.

Then
The fireflies arrive.
Dancing sparks of amber light
They flit in shimmering loops of infinity
Leaving a blazing trail behind
Like comets streaking
Across the universe
The ballet of angels.

One alights on the girl’s finger
And she gasps, awe-struck
For in her innocence
She thinks that
Under its paper-thin wings
Is the light of a star,
Fallen from above.

She laughs in delight
And that peal of laughter
Makes her father smile too
For to him
It is the music of the stars.