Poems, Puzzles and Miscellany

POEMS, PUZZLES, AND MISCELLANY

LIFECYCLE GLOSSARY HELPING GLOW-WORMS WHERE TO FIND THEM MY STUDY

THEIR HISTORY MY SURVEY LINKS TO OTHER SITES ABOUT ME MISCELLANY SNAILS

THINGS THAT GO GLOW IN THE NIGHT!

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Can you find these words in the wordsearch above?

ABDOMEN	FLIGHTLESS FEMALE	ILLUMINATE	PESTICIDE
BEETLE	GLIMMER	LARVA	POLLUTION
CLEARING	LIGHT THE PATH	LED	PREDATOR
COLD LIGHT	GLOW-WORM	LIFECYCLE	PUPA
COLONY	GRASSLAND	LIGHT	REACTION
DESTRUCTION	GREEN	LIGHT ORGAN	SEDENTARY
DISPLAY	GROWTH	GLOW	SEGMENT
DUSK	HABITAT	LUCIFERASE	SLUG
EGG	HERBICIDE	LUCIFERIN	SNAIL
ENERGY	HIBERNATE	LUMINOUS	UNDERGROUND
FIREFLY	LAMPYRIS NOCTILUCA	NIGHT	WINGED MALE

GUARDIANS OF THE GRAVES

With the owls and bats, when the dusk ends the day

They crawl out from their hides in their slow, silent way.

Amble with lazy precision, to pre-chosen places.

Climbing stems or stones, at their own steady paces.

Like protectors of the sleeping souls, they sit alone,

Like guardians of the graves, they sit like stone.

Shining out their welcome presence for all to see.

They keep silent vigil. As patient as could be.

With their beacons turned on, tiny torches so bright,

The churchyard is starred, with their green ghostly light,

They watch everything, from their own lookout towers,

And glow like pure magic, ‘til the early hours.

But the purpose of the glow-worm’s nightly calling

Of her signal light on grass, grave, shrub or walling

Is to find a mate – who unlike her - has wings to fly

So for all she is worth, she displays to the sky.

Now for nearly two years she has waited for this!

For just a few minutes of love, marriage and bliss!

For her life out a-glowing lasts but a few days.

She lives for her children, but won’t see their ways.

So remember her larvae, who rid you of snails,

They’ve got two years to feed, or their life cycle fails.

For they emerge as an adult, from their velvet cocoon

But can no longer eat, so soon face their doom.

If she can’t tempt a mate, was her life all in vain?

Does the pleasure she gave us make up for her pain?

For in peace, and in war, the glow-worm’s love play

Has lit up our path, and helped show us our way.

Now my poem is done, and I hope you will learn

That a glow-worms light is a joy to see burn.

The church is their sanctuary, so let them bestow,

Like flames for your loved ones, their warm, friendly glow.

Glow-worms are harmless to everything except slugs and snails, which they eat during their larval life-stage. They hibernate over the winter, and turn into their adult form at the very end of their life. Finding it hard to move on to another area, they often thrive in churchyards, where the land is undisturbed, and weed-killers are not used. Elsewhere, man has cultivated or developed much of the land where they once lived, and killed them. In churchyards, their greatest threat is from visitor’s use of slug pellets, sometimes sprinkled around flowers left for loved-ones, and tidying of the land. Glow-worms were recently officially recognised for their service to mankind during the war, marking pathways during the blackout years. Please be kind to any Guardians of the Graves in your area – the Churchyard is their sanctuary! I often see candles lit by visitors for their loved ones near graves, so, when I see glow-worms in churchyards, and around ancient monuments or castles, I think of them as candles lit by nature, like flames burning for all who sleep.