When the soft Knoxville summer Slips it’s way over the Smokies Ghosts through Gatlinburg And passes Pigeon Forge We opened all the windows And made love in the mist. I jumped into a gorge Naked and full of expectation Washing the sweat that Only conquering mountains Can conjure. I erupted from the water New and fresh and clean. While sullen hazel eyes Watched water drops Trace down my ******* A siren drying in the sun On the rocks. The trees were dying White and blanched In Everest emerald green While the mountains cast shadows. My love for you much the same As the quick moving summer. A lifetime turns into a blink. Your body pulsates on a rock Next to the wild Obed And you are just as untamed. You had a past you never mentioned But always remembered And a father who forgot you. I collect stones from the riverside And dream of you being happy. I lay in a bed of purple honeysuckles On a mountain bald And share a bottle of bourbon With a man hiking the Appalachian trail. He tells me he is Almost famous And I laugh at the word “almost.” He plays the trumpet And moves souls With every utterance of his lungs. He continues on the trail And I never see him again. We get late night ice cream And my cotton shirt sticks to me In overwhelming humidity And suffocating heat But I am laughing And hanging out the car window Through winding roads and wild thorns And summer has ended And so have we.