Once the lightest snowfall comes
That clings to roofs and lawns
Like the silk slip clung to your hips,
The summer is over, completely gone.
We remember what never happened,
And because the years go in a circle,
We think our lives do,
When what they really do is unwind
Like a twisted thread,
Frequently changing direction.
Thought we yearn for it all winter,
It is a new summer that comes--
Not the old one.
We think when the summer returns
Things will be what they were,
But once its gone, its gone forever.

The leaves had fallen in the grove,
Red, pale yellow, copper and mauve;
I raked them up in a heaping pile,
Then leaned upon the rake a while
To contemplate my work--
Joy and sorrow, pleasure and strife--
A pile of leaves, the days of my life.

I thought I might not last 'til spring:
If only I could sleep the season
Curled up like a leaf;
When the snow had melted down
I'd come back like a flower,
Bright and joyous, ready to live,
Fresh and new again.  

But now was the time to face the months
That buried things under the snow.
In February just a little ****
Was all you'd see on the floor of the grove:
The leaves would be resting there
While I struggled in the biting air
And snowflakes stung the skin left bare.

But the winter I survived
To find the wild flowers that bloom
Under hardwoods not yet green.
I've had  another spring to roam,
Watched the leaves turn green again
And written down this poem.

On our summer lawn you lie curved,
Like a snake warming in the sun;
When I turn on the spigot at mid-day
How hot thy water doth run!

Sometimes you're hooked to a sprinkler,
Where the kids ran when they were small;
We wonder: where did the time go?
And just can't remember at all.

To our home by the river you came
And reached where the vegetables grew;
You watered them gently all season,
Out back, where the blue heron flew.

Gashed by the mower's cruel blade
You leaked: we thought you were gone:
But I got the parts to save you--
Thank heaven for Aubuchon.

Shorter, old friend, always there,
We still bring you in from the cold
To your special place under the work bench,
To store you in neat coils rolled.

Stretched out full length on the blacktop,
I raise one end towards the sky
And drain the last water inside you
To put you away, safe and dry.

I pray as I wind you in autumn
The dark winter we will survive;
My heart is already yearning
For springtime to come back alive.  

To water our plants on the north side,
To feed the cedar hedge row,
To wash winter sand from the driveway,
Left by the last melting snow.  

So sleep well, companion of years
In your circle there on the floor;
My the freezing days pass us by quickly,
May we join you for one season more.

It was fall when I fell for you
Gazing at hillsides of varied hue,
Red-headed girls in saffron dresses
Coming to give me hugs and kisses,
Moving in droves from outcrops and ridges
Crossing the valleys and brooks without bridges.

You of all were most fair,
Your hair
Piled like clouds at sunrise,
Passion and excitement fierce
Burnt in your gray-blue eyes,
Particles of light aglow
Surrounded you in a mist
That totally enveloped me
Every time we kissed.

Now, you tease me like a breeze
And hear what I don't say
I throw my troubles in your fire:
They're gone
And joy remains.

Sanderlings
Don't use their wings
When waves roll in on the strand:
They beat their retreat
On quick, little feet
Back across the
Sand.

Crickets that chirp all day and all night
Looking for love in their season
Overgrown fields rife with golden rod
The same as they are every year
Earlier sunsets we notice at mid-month
(Wonder where the summer went)
Cool mornings with fog
Still air with familiar scents
Bats from behind shutters
Pursue their flights at dusk
(If only we could fly with them)
Apples fall from trees, soft, little thuds,
Remind us of other late summers, and of gravity
Migrating birds eat honeysuckle berries
While a monarch spreads her wings
On white phlox

She comes from the grill
Wearing her blue, happy chef, skull cap
Raising, on palms outstretched,
Two plates stacked with pancakes
Steaming, round and golden,
To set them, dramatically, on "the line"
For one of the wait staff to pick up.
After that, she looks out at the people
And smiles for no obvious reason
With a smile that lights up the whole restaurant.
Then she goes back to the grill, grabs her spatula,
And pushes the home fires around...