Twilight unfolds like crumpled blue velvet. I twist on the green string lights coiled around the wisteria trellis. Their rice-grain-sized glimmers snake through the vines, carrying me back to childhood evenings on bamboo mats, watching fireflies dance above rice paddies with lanterns of their own.
These LED strands glow in a carefully curated emerald hue. They nestle shyly among leaves, flickering like morning dew. When wind stirs the branches, the lights sway, casting starry patterns across stone paths that mimic the chaotic beauty of a firefly rave.
I often drag my rattan chair beneath the trellis. Green light pools over my books as memories flood in of that sweaty summer night two decades ago. Real fireflies traced glowing arcs through loofah vines then. These artificial ones still cast shifting shadows on my screen door, though none will ever land on my eyelashes like their wild counterparts.
The neighbor’s little girl used to press her face against the fence. “Do these fireflies get cold?” she once asked timidly. I explained they were glowing vines, and she began counting lights each dusk, promising to guide them home. Now she knows they’re electric magic, but still races over after rain to announce when a real firefly lands beside its man-made twin.
Their most enchanting performance comes during storms. Raindrops slide down the clear bulbs, smudging the glow into misty jade halos. The entire courtyard drowns in gentle green light then—even the shirts on the clothesline seem to float like aquatic plants. Moths occasionally flutter into the scene, painting silver arcs through the rain curtain that blend with the green constellations.
These tireless “fireflies” have accompanied me through summer novels. They’ve witnessed laughter at friend gatherings and soothed exhausted post-work nights. They’re urban haiku, stubborn green fairy tales thriving in concrete jungles.
When autumn steals the last wisteria leaf, I’ll tuck the strands into a rattan chest. Already dreaming of next spring’s reunion with these man-made fireflies.
