The Blue Dragonfly

The other day, I was engaged in a conversation regarding the Danube Delta. And about the fact that even though I was born and raised very close to it, I only managed to visit it while I was 24 years old. Thanks to a friend that had a friend in the Murighiol locality.

Good old friends! It’s mostly due to them that one gets to see precious things one had in their vecinity, but which they have ignored or have considered that they had plenty of time to see, anyway, and have postponed the visit for another time.

It’s a serious illness this ‘another time’. I am putting it down here, both for me and for you. In case I forget, do remind me of it! For our time is here and nothing and no one can guarantee for tomorrow. And we know that. Just like we know that every day the sun rises, and in the evening it sets. Or maybe, because we know this, that’s why we do not cherish time? Would this be the explanation?!

Even though we went to the Danube Delta in the middle of August, we shivered with cold while on boat, going from one channel to another. The stops, actually, made us really happy. One – because the temperature would become rather friendly. Especially, to our clothes. For they were absolutely inappropriate considering the draft there. We had the highest expectations. But we found out that they were not the most befitting. The expectations, I mean.

Two – because everything would calm down. The hoarse hum of the engine of the boat would fade out, the water would no longer be stirred by circles and white foam that came from our boat, and when the sun would come out of the clouds (for it was a cloudy day), the heat embraced us and made us totally bespelled by it.

Looking at a distance, flocks of birds, water lilies and pelicans would whitely embroider the scenery. It is something in the way nature swathes and shows one that humanity is at its mercy. And not the other way around. Even though it lets one believe that. It is exactly like in the story that my mother used to tell me. I don’t remember where had she heard it from. It was a story about horses. About the fact that people put blinders to the horses’ eyes so that they are not able to see just how small people actually are. If they knew, they would definitely crush them and no longer carry the burden for them.

And as we lingered there, exactly in the midst of a great power, we would look downward, to the water lilies. A vague sour smell was rising. And it was then I saw it. The blue dragonfly. It was sitting on a water lily leaf. Then, it gently started flying. I reached out my hand and, as if at a sign, it landed on my palm.

And I won’t deny it. I am a fan of the concrete nature, the town that is. It is there where I feel safe, knowing that I do not risk crossing a snake’s way. But, in that moment, I felt what magic is. And thus, admit that nature is beautiful. And full of surprises.

Just like the one I was able to experience while in Montepulciano, Italy. It was dark and we were housed outside the city. I walked to get there and mistakenly took the light guiding us for the moon. But it was not. Thousands of fireflies were hovering around us, giving a slight humming noise. I realized, in that moment, that there had been a while since I last saw fireflies. It was when I was a child and summers in the city were not characterized by pollution. The fir outside the block of flats I was living was their favourite meeting point, for it was there where I would generally see them in large numbers.

And so it seems that pollution has gotten way stronger. Talking with a ten years younger colleague about all the above, I found out that she had never seen a firefly. And it got me thinking... when was the last time I saw a firefly? It’s been a while. Maybe that time with the blue firefly. But what about you? Can you tell me where can we find fireflies?