Summer’s End

A lull in the September rains.
I gather what remains of summer
And recall the cloudless sky,
The sun’s relentless burn,
The turn from supple green
To frizzled brown.
The roses thrived.
The clematis died.
The weeds grew bold,
Staking their claim
Within sickly shrubs.

I prune what belongs
Without mercy.
The rest I dispatch
With abandon.

I welcomed summer in June,
Glad to leave the moods
Of spring behind.
My body unwound,
Slowed down in the heat of July,
And I stretched out in the blaze.
But by August I was dreaming
Of autumn
And a fire in my hearth.

The song is changing
For Earth’s dance with the Sun.
A different tune, but the same
Year to year.
Celestial music beyond
What I hear, yet
It thrums in my soul.
Bravo, Creator God!
I want to dance with You;
Lead on.

Table Rock Lake State Park, Missouri