ode to summer goes something like this:
you began slowly friend, such a timid, mild beginning I almost begged you to turn it up a notch so we wouldn’t need to light the fire put on socks, wipe dripping noses but then a few weeks later we were in a heatwave, sweating - and so began the irregular shape of you this time: hot and cold dry and wet smokey and clear back and forth again, You’re circles around the mulberry tree staining our fingers blood red on berries prickles from the blackberry brambles, You’re eagles soaring above our heads and we marvel at your beauty and your cunning, picking our chickens off like popcorn, You’re the mosquitoes we hear buzzing around our heads at night, always one we missed, the damp air and the red bites on my children’s faces You’re the beautiful stone fruit apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, pineapple, mangoes zucchinis from friends, the first from our own garden: first vegetables grown in this place - You’re the clothes that dry stiff on the line, the bare feet and brown shoulders, the sun on my cheeks, light on my face - You’re the waxy sedum, the tall hollyhocks, the mass of pink valerian, the wavering lavender the frenzied sound of flies of bees, moths, wasps - You’re the country shrouded in smoke the land that burned (some still smouldering) the loss of creature, plant, life, livlihoods to great to count, so big to bear omnicide we said, You’re the confusion, the disbelief, the knowing our climate is changing, people diverging lamenting, regenerating - You’re that time my family visited when we ventured outside after dinner - it was still light, and we basked (all nine of us) in the warm dusk: sprawling on the grass on the veranda, reclining, chatting, strumming a guitar - We revelled in the blessing of being able to gather like we never could at our old home - the soft grass, green leafy shade space and peacefulness a time I will tuck under my skin to remember always, our shared contentment
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ABOUT the authorEmily Clare Sims is a farmer and mama to three young boys. Each day she looks for ways to notice beauty, contemplate her faith and savour the seasons... Categories
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March 2023
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