When Summer Ends
When summer grudgingly ends
And autumn’s gusts
Beckon around my door
She relents and passes
The seasonal baton
To winter’s snowflakes
That dance along
My window ledge
High above the
Snarling tangled traffic
Halogen lampposts
Beam luminance
Across windshields
As wipers frantically
Send smeared snow askew
To an invisible darkness
At five o’clock
The cold darkness
Blends and turns
Gray days, one over the other
Waiting it out
For a spring thaw
When the shorter days
And taller shadows
Are finally interrupted
By tulips and crocus
Sprouting skyward
Searching for bluer skies
And puffed-up clouds
And fields of wildflowers,
Meadows of crickets
Welcome the rain clouds
That turn brown to green
That feed the streams,
Rivers and ponds
Yearning again for reflections
Of sun-lit days
When the heat of day
Yields softly to a
Crimson streaked sky
And gentle balmy nights
That repeat themselves
‘Til summer grudgingly ends
Again
