ALT Love Poem, Lampyridae (Glow Worms) Lampyris noctiluca The female born again with little changed except she has no mouth and may not eat, except she has this urge to climb, this light she must raise and twist; the male born again with little changed except he has no mouth, except he has this urge to search, and wings – oh she must twist and turn her tail’s green fire like bait, its little stab of brightness in the night, and he must search with wings through troubled air to find her pinhole lure, its single, green, seducing star... All night she signals him in: come find me – it is time – and almost dawn; all night he looks for her in petrol stations villages and homesteads, the city’s neon signs: where are you – it is time – and almost dawn . . . Once were humans wandered in the lanes, led astray by fairies, foxfire, who found their stranger selves and brought them home. Now the dark is drowned, but some things you can only find beyond the light, and it is time and almost dawn and

ALT and love, my love, there is no finding then. / book cover of Fiona Benson's Ephemeron, from Cape Poetry