Me, change! Me, alter!
Then I will, when on the Everlasting Hill
A Smaller Purple grows－
At sunset, or a lesser glow
Flickers upon Cordillera－
At Day's superior close!
Then I will, when on the Everlasting Hill
A Smaller Purple grows－
At sunset, or a lesser glow
Flickers upon Cordillera－
At Day's superior close!
(F.281/J.268)
[1] change:: to change from egg to larva. alter:: to alter from larva to firefly.
[2] I:: a firefly, or glow-worm.
[3] Purple:: color of firefly's light.
[4] glow:: a hint on glow-worm.
[5] Flickers:: flashes of the fireflies.
The rain has brought forth the fire-flies, and in the evening the hedges are all brilliant with them. In the day they seem to be torpid beetles of a dull reddish colour, but at night they become of a shining purple. ─ Journal of a Residence among the Negroes in the West Indies (1845)
You must penetrate the tractless forests of the interior, and dwell where human vestiges are not seen; you must scan the Cordilleras, lighted by the firefly, keeping only the Cross of the South for your lodestar. ─ Annals of Some Remarkable Aerial and Alpine Voyages (1832)