The weather changed today.
In the morning a marine layer, crisp,
lowered over the Pacific northwest –
gray and calm, cool as a silent prayer.
In the afternoon the sun drifted
overhead through wispy clouds;
warmth spread over our splendid fields
as spring became summer.

As a young boy a day such as this
was all I knew of weather.
As for climate, as with all science,
I was blissfully unaware
content to wish upon stars.

I’ve only wanted daily weather –
seasonal changes from warm to cold,
rain to wind to snow.
It was enough for me to know
that climate changes because
the axial tilt of the earth,
at 23.5 degrees, makes it so,
while the orbiting moon flails
endlessly at the foaming seas.

How little I knew of weather,
of climate and their ways.
The blame is mine.
As a boy I lay in the summer grass
watching the clouds drift by.
It was all I ever wanted to know
of weather, climate change
and the passing of our limited time. 

Portland, Oregon – Summer solstice, June 21, 2019.