August 2025

Farewell, summer

Are you my last summer?

Then my last complaints against the heat

were spoken aloud this week

before the first cold front

of fall pushes through

this Sunday.

This year has gone by

even faster than the last

which itself went faster

than the last

and so on and on

into that ever-loving Past.

I thank my Father in Heaven

that I might observe one more

Earthly change of seasons

Father knows how much

I love them.

Even if autumn is no longer

a mere break from heat

with lovely red and golden leaves

but summer’s life

giving way to death

and more of a time for mourning

than bonfire celebrations.

I’ll drink to it, regardless.

Besides, we still have one hollyhock

in crazy full bloom left

before Sunday’s cold front

pushes through.

May I at least enjoy

one more Thanksgiving

one more Christmas?

Forgive me, Lord,

for clinging to this much

of a not only fallen

but forgotten

world.

I know it’s not long now.

I Want My Children to Inherit Something Other Than My Debt. Thanks!