#70

"Are you happy?"
a graying moth asked
a fading firefly.

"How many souls
have I guided off?
How many eyes
have I led astray?"
the firefly asked.

"Does it matter?"
replied the moth.

"What meaning is
my life?
Why did I live?"
the firefly asked.

"To be happy,"
the moth answered.

"I burned too bright,"
said the firefly.

"So do all other fireflies,"
said the moth.
"But are you happy?"

"That my life is over?
How could I be?"
the firefly
answered, frustrated.

"Were you happy?"
the moth asked.

The firefly paused.
His frustration thinned
into something quieter.

"That I have lived?"
the firefly answered, slowly.
"Should I
have never?"

A flicker stirred
behind his fading light.

"Were your life meaningful?"
the moth asked.

The firefly met his gaze.

"Does it matter?"
he replied.

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