Somewhere in Summer

Standard

 

Art – Matt Chambliss

Hot, wet, sultry summer

Damp heat hangs heavy, thickening the air

Shallow moist labored breaths

Weighty footsteps, deliberate, tread one by one

No relief in sight

The longest day is done, passed

The dry time approaches, baking earth

Greens rule today but browns will break when the earth cracks

Followed by yellows orange and red

Upon awakening I sensed a slight shifting signaling

The beginning of the end of the summer season

Zenith reached and turns toward tomorrow

Which yet lies over the horizon, out of view

The march of days has begun toward the next

The fragrance of Fall will secret itself between the rise and setting of the sun

Cooler crisp air will fill the spaces abandoned by the heat

Finding its place and quietly holding it until the coming of the cold

The waning has begun, a slow silent leak

Expansion halted now recedes, contraction begun

Longing for the sharp cold to cut through the malaise

To energize me once again in that time between seasons

Where the death of summer births the winter

For now I will trudge step by step along my way

I will harvest the final fruit of this year’s effort

Thankful for the grace of its bounty and provision

Yet wishing for something new, more, other than what I have produced

It was new ground, hoarded seeds of Self reluctantly surrendered, sown into the dark unknown

Trepidation’s trembling all along that way but ultimately unheeded

And now there is a new garden growing, one that has never been before

Something original done by my hand that only exists because I prepared and planted it

Triumph of risk over failure’s fear, an odd idea, a dream made manifest in the flesh

To have done the thing is something but what was I expecting

I was just experimenting and exploring the unknown of me, seeing if I could

It’s clear I can but now what, for what, I don’t know

As the seasons of me turn over and over, round and round, I unfold in unexpected ways

There remains a vast expanse of unknowing, my doing and being somehow reflecting that mystery

Maybe there is no ultimate answer to it.  My being says do and my doing says just be

I do know that is it hot and wet and green and that I can

But right now it is hard to harvest hazy thoughts in this heat

And I contract slowly like the season knowing that another is even now on its way to me

The slow warm exhale of what has been empties me, making room for a cool crisp new life giving breath

So, now sustained by what remains I await, I trudge, I harvest and save the seeds for a new, new garden

Perhaps that is the way of things

After the doing is done there is only being

Buds break becoming blossoms then just soak in the sun for a season

Until they are spent, color fading falling back to the earth to become part of the new that is to come

Yes, surely that is the way of things

It is somewhere in summer boy.  Why would you expect it to be different than it is

Sometimes I don’t know about you.  You will be complaining about the cold soon enough

Be Groovy! 🙂

18 thoughts on “Somewhere in Summer”

    • That is apples and oranges, my friend. You’re writing heart felt poetry. I’m responding to your words. But I thank you for your praise! 🙂 And mostly for your beautiful amazing poetic storytelling!

  3. Plopping myself down on the earth, which has a distinct scent of change. I’d noticed it before, maybe for a couple of weeks now. Just a tinge really. It is a luxurious stroll through the winding down, with you. I listen to your sinewy voice, which sounds as sleepy and lazy as your words feel, touching me like autumn leaves flying free on a gust of wind.

    I breathe deep of the still damp, summer hewn soil, and kick off my shoes and sink my toes into the still green grass, feeling happy to be here; it seems too long since the early days of hearing you sharing your journey.

    It’s hard to pick a line, or phrase, as they all are equally tasteful, succulent like harvested fruit.

    *sigh*

  7. The slow warm exhale of what has been empties me, making room for a cool crisp new life giving breath… Yes, Fall is coming… It’s what I need to feel, too.

    I was just experimenting and exploring the unknown of me, seeing if I could… It’s clear I can but now what, for what, I don’t know.. Same thing I’ve been asking myself for the last several years since discovering Ban Breathnach’s book. What is the point of it?

    My being says do and my doing says just be… This is still the confusing part for me.

    The waning has begun, a slow silent leak… Expansion halted now recedes, contraction begun… I felt like I was holding my breath.

    So calm and vulnerable and paced just right. I see you’re beginning to emerge from your cocoon into something else yet again… <3

Comments are closed.