Days without rain swimming in summer’s warm bath –
crunching pine needles, spring blooms wilting brown
over dusty dry fissures widening under the heat.
Open windows for the cooling sere night sky
with its silky moon and, at dawn, fresh breezes
before the windows close, curtains drawn
dark and cool within. While out?  Gathering heat
and every hard surface a glare – wall, window –
as white wisps of cabbage moths flutter two by two.

Breathe in the warm still breath of summer
as it lingers through the horizons of the day –
fresh morning bird song to a slip of wind
through leaf flutter at twilight exhalation.
Smell summer in its morning dew and milky dust;
taste it’s strawberry sweetness dripping
into the folds of lips, tongue, throat – falling
down and down into the heart, into the body
into the petals of earth’s flowers spun and rare.

Portland, Oregon – July 25, 2017

Photo is my own – Echinacea in our summer garden.