Category: Summer 2024

Great choruses of orange day lilies line the roads now.
They arrive in troops, singing from their golden throats,
their petals opening into fat, happy stars.
I drive past them smiling, Somewhere
in a corner of my mind, I hear ice cream truck music
and my mouth is remembering the textures and tastes
and cold of an orange creamsicle on a hot summer day
when I rode my bike down the sandy road,
dime in my pocket, to buy one.
It’s the memories these wild lilies evoke that make us
smile inside at the sight of them. We think that
we take them for granted. But they bring memories
to all our hearts of summer days like this one.
That’s their gift.

Oh Yes! This is it!
This is what we wanted,
what we longed for
the whole winter long,
this summer day with a breeze
pushing the tall grass
and giant clouds transporting
us back to our childhoods
when we stretched out
on the green fragrance
and found circuses
sailing overhead, when
even the ants were a matter
of utter fascination. Yes!
This is it exactly. The perfect
summer day. Oh, at last!
Oh Yes. Oh Yes. Oh Yes.

I’m pouring my morning coffee
when a motion catches my eye.
Two fawns scamper from the woods
to stand in the clearing at its edge.
They graze on the grass and nibble leaves,
pausing, heads raised, to survey
the surrounding sights and sounds.
Awareness is their only protection.
That, and their speed.
They can vanish in an instant.
But they stay for maybe three minutes.
Then they are gone, leaving me to think
how lucky I am to live in a time and place
where young deer can appear
mere yards away. Like them,
such a time can vanish in an instant.
That’s the plan, you know.
I sip my coffee and give thanks
for this now, my mind still awed
by the privilege of seeing baby deer.

This is the day of long light, the birthday
of summer. Drink it in. Let it glide
into your eyes and slide into your pores.
Lick it with your tongue, feel it seep
into your cells and flow through your veins,
this sustainer of life, this spirit of fiery joy.

Celebrate its dawn; embrace its high noon.
Float in the glow of its dusk until
the stars rise and the fireflies
sparkle the night in its honor.
This is the day of long light,
the birthday of summer.
May our hearts dance with it, and be glad.