Incandescent Friend

Georgina Elizabeth Prineppi | Alankrita Amaya

Peering down from an airy perch, I swung my legs in the cool of the night, listening for the soft sighs of the wild’s slumber. The leaves chattered in the freshening breeze around me: they were dancing silhouettes, obscuring the spray of shimmering stars set in the infinite deep above.

My eyes were drawn — enchanted — by a glimmering light growing far below me. The happy thought rose, its little fire glowing, warm and golden, within a translucent veil. It floated and bobbed, swayed by the current’s whimsy, winding on its skyward path. Smiling, I heard its papery shroud shiver on the wind’s crest as it sailed — unknowingly — past my secret nest.

My heart kindled with its fire, my spirit soared with its ascent. Where had its journey begun, I wondered, and where would it end? Who else would meet the lantern — a floating traveler, my incandescent friend?