The end of summer always took my breath away- I wrote this at the end of last summer-
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Oh Summer, Where Have You Gone?
Oh Summer!
Where have you gone?
Ffft, ffft, ffft, of the sprinkler, fading
Tiny toes, squishing through the green grass
Chubby speckled toads greeting wet dew, shaded
Moving
along.
Plump, dappled zucchini lugged in like prizes
Grating the vegetable
Licking the spoon
Sweet sugar and spice and everything nice
in a bowl
Empty
too soon.
Tightly wrapped treasures in tinfoil
Taken to Grandmas again
and again
Some hidden in the freezer for winter’s wait
when wistful thoughts come back to
Now.
Streaks in the sky
Fourth of July
Cousins chasing, “You’re It!”
Rushing,
unrushing.
May I have a lemonade? Where are my shoes? Another cookie please?
It’s hot.
Sticky porch, sticky fingers, sticky air
I care
But I don’t.
Tanned skin
and hair with streaks of sun kisses
Lingering lights and a bedtime too late
Yet not.
White wicker porched respite rejuvenates
Wet towels lined up like soggy soldiers in the sun
Warm and dry and crinkled they offer one more round of sprinkler sprints
Now done.
This baby will never be one again.
This toddler never three.
This new teenager giggles with the five year old
Where do they get their energy?
Mother muses.
Her mother wanted to know too, 30 years before,
and her grandmother, 60 years prior
A wave of women wondered. . . and watched.
A rhythm.
A season.
A time.
Sneakily moving forward without alarm,
until it is here.
Snapshots in my mind, to be kept forever,
or as long as I remember.
Pictures keep what memory cannot;
Memory keeps what pictures forgot.
Daughter’s hair is curly and messy
The breeze makes her pull the stray strands away from her face
I see the profile of a young woman, in a child’s form
In an instant it reverts, yet I know I will see it again.
Oh Summer! Where have you gone?
Tarry a bit longer….
Soon your arms will be
Fading into the dawn of autumn.
Again.
–T. Thomas
