I remember walking by
The humid summer's fireflies
From whence they came well I know not
As I chased them round the little hut

I saw the moon and heard the wolf's howl
For how it made my heart so proud
With lightning feet, they carried my way
Through paths and grass, by night and day

Once I reached for the morning star
Its  beams that keeps at bay the dark
And tried to catch the West wind's song
But my lips can't hold the sound for long
In June I jumped over cliffs and fells

And drank thirsty from the cooling wells
Which brought life and strength to burning throat
The life-giving stream I crave most
I climbed the pine tree I called friend

And spent the day up there to no end
The cones they stuck to my hair and clothes
Such was the joy I felt those days
When nature was at its best in every way

Now I come home while holding a child
I peered in the lawn and saw no pine
Nor did I hear the grey wolf's cry
The song of wind I fear has died

I drank from a bottle and there I saw
Why my throat has always felt raw
The difference between this and what once I knew
Is the purity of the mountain dew

I sat on the grass and felt life
And as if like a child from dark to light
I clung to it and felt my eyes moister
For there she was, the evergreen mother

I looked to the sky and saw the sun
And gazed at the face of my smiling son
When was it that I craved the poison of smoke
Of dangerous liquor that deprives me of hope

When was it that I forgot the moon and the call of the wild?
When was it that I desired acceptance and destroyed  green life?
When was it that I once ran through the glorious wood?
When was it that I threw away wastes of my food?

The rain, it fell so soothing from my eyes
I wipe it with a trembling hand and rise
And hugged my child and whispered with a sigh
"Son, would you like to see the fireflies?"