"she is summer..."

she plays against the
backdrop of
a cloud
as subtle as the
grays and
blue of
twilight on
a midsummer's night
in Maine...

she is the call of the loon
and the whisper of
the wind through birch trees
on a granite ridge...

when the sea sings through the
sheets of a tall ship
rising the
crest of a storm and
the taste of salt
lingers on your skin
she is the
heaving breath of an ancient
mariner, the
rocking motion of
a night on deck

all the beauty of a starlit
night is reflected
in the fathomless depths of
her fresh water
ponds scattered along the Appalachian trail
where she
traces a path of
discovery....a maze of
delight

she is  a jar of fireflies
to read by,
the familiar creak and slap of
screen door on the
kitchen porch,
splash and giggle of
children at the shallow end,
the
scent of coconut oil and the
feel of hot sand between
your toes,
the buzz of horseflies and
the nickering of
mares across a moonlit paddock....

she is lemonade and
clinking ice, the sticky sweetness of
watermelon juice down your
forearms,
crickets, and sunflowers and
the tall, dry grass of
a south dakota
afternoon...

she is summer...