The Praise of Summer

This year,
I don’t want summer to end –
don’t want to give in to fall
and the turning of leaves,
but to linger here,
in these long days of heat,
this time,
between seasons
of purpose and doing.

Some years,
preferred shadowed days
to summers fullness –
too much life and possibility,
too much light –
which is to say I have known some summers
that have not been easy.

But this summer is different –
and I can’t get enough of
summer heat,
bowls of blue
berries and ripe
fruits on the vine,
the lap of waves
on sandy beaches,
the play of children’s feet –
such splashing!
Such of everything
that will not,
cannot,
be contained.

Here,
before the return to more serious matters –
the beginning of school,
sharp pencils and crisp clean notebooks –
I remember,
once more,
the gifts of summer,
in the holding of time  –
a young boy,
a younger man,
a dock,
a river,
half way into a leap,
to shout
my praise.

The Dock
For Thomas

Around the cove from where
the single lane concrete bridge
used to span,
just up from the railway trestle
before the dam,
at this old wooden dock,
I taught you to swim.

Held my arms out to you
as I stepped slowly,
ever so slowly,
away from the shore,
testing the tension
between courage and fear.

You pushed off,
exuberant splashing,
as I called confidence
to you across the water.

Wide eyed, panting,
you clung to my chest,
exhilarated and worn,
until daring release
to try it once more.

Once, when you were older,
we swam across
to the dark pined shore
spotted with birch
where Indians used to dwell
and arrowheads can still be found.

Stood near the shore
on large smooth stones
like long legged herons.
Looked down on fallen trees,
the remnants of a wall
that had once been a mill.

We swam back,
strong firm strokes
against the current,
until sitting,
as we do now,
wound in damp towels
on warm knotted wood,
knees wrapped in our arms.

We rise,
daring each other
to jump, one more time,
to fling ourselves out into
blue sky –
where for a moment –
everything stops,
everything stills.

Peter Ilgenfritz