Noooooooo.....!

Let’s face it. Summer is gone.
No need for a holiday or solstice.

I feel it deep inside.

This is difficult for me to write, as what a summer it was!

90+ degree days. Drought.

The perfect mix of stifling heat and sunshine

allowing for optimal shorts-wearing,

convertible driving and rollerblading.

Sunbathing? Swimming?

Long walks after dark?

All possible with my special summer.

My sweet, fleeting summer.

Now, it’s almost gone.

There’s that slant to the sunlight, the way the sunset

takes but moments rather than minutes,

that lets you know the earth has tilted

and the good times are gone.

A certain smell. The way the leaves rustle.

Tattered butterflies limping from stalk to stalk.

The crisp evening air forebodes the dismal winter ahead as I reach for long-sleeved shirts and tuck away the shorts.

I become as sleepy as our star,

my energy sapped in proportion

to its early departure.

Ahead, only gloom.

I’ll miss you, summer of 2005.

Don’t forget me. I’ll always remember you.