The Berry Watchers

Almost every day now I go check on the berries.
They ripen quickly, and it’s always a race with
the berry-loving birds. Today, I wasn’t the only one
taking their measure. A little spider, its body round
as the ripening berries and blending nicely
with their coloring, sat on one of their leaves.
“You, too!” I say to him as a kind of greeting.
We berry-watchers form an instant bond.
“Yep,” he says. “Getting closer.”
“Any day now,” I agree. We’ll keep a keen eye.
“Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say.
“Yep,” he answers.
“Good luck,” I say as I turn away.
“Yep,” he says. “You, too.”

Summer

Then, all at once, here it is. Summer,
come to put things through their paces
– us among them – to lure us forward
and if need be, to push us with a shout
of her one constant word: “Become.”
Look, she says, you’re a seed. Get it?
Everything you need to do what comes next
is already a part of you. And all you have to do
is get out of the way and let it take you exactly
where you need to be in order to be exactly
who you are. “Become,” she laughs.
That’s her work, and that’s her song.