Popular Posts

Sunday 19 August 2012

Summer

Season of high colour
born  of the golden sun
afloat  on azure seas,
veiled times by white tulle shreds
lest heat become too great.

All summer long we praise
the season that can tease
tints in bright abundance
from boring dark brown earth:
red roses waving, flags

of glorious blue, the
yellow honeysuckle -
and out to play, insects
in party dress, while birds
scrawl patterns in the sky.

How have we taken you
for granted? Not this year!
This year you've shown your sull-
en face: incessant rain
has beaten down the flags

and decimated bees.
Cold winds have bade blooms
stay 'neath the parapets.
My favourite birds
all caught the early flight.
Written to the prompt "Summer" by ManicDDaily in Poetics at dVerse Poets

20 comments:

jabblog said...

You captured a perfect summer and contrasted it well with this year's effort - though it is bright and sunny at present, too late for blackbird and thrush young.

Claudia said...

summer indeed did hide a bit over here as well..but now it's there with sun and scorching heat..loved the insects in party dresses...now let's have a summer party together with them..even though some of the birds did already catch the early flight..

John (@bookdreamer) said...

Ah the summer of poster dreams that stayed on the walls so we can enjoy the hues of grey of winter rain

Dulcina said...

I love the image of insects in party dress.
Nice description of a strange summerless summer, same in Spain.
:)

Elephant's Child said...

I am not a fan of summer, and welcome rain, but you did make me feel for you.

Brian Miller said...

smiles...nice imagery man...love the honeysuckle and how it scents the air...i hope i have not taken the season for granted...the rain though we missed...and no early flight yet, still smoking hot...though it is raining gently this morning which is a beautiful relief...

David Cranmer said...

Another day, another superb poem by Dave.

Anonymous said...

Ah - I love the idea of the birds on the early flight- very clever, and you are so right about the taking of a benign summer for granted - here people are being burned for that in a terribly profound way.

This has such a beautiful lyrical side though - in addition to the wit - the white tulled shreds veiling against the heat - the honeysuckle (wonderful against the decimated bees), the patterns scrawled by the birds.

Lovely.

One technical question - did you link it to dVerse? I didn't see the link on Mr. Linky, but just came by to visit the blog. Maybe you want to link it to get more visits? K.

Carl said...

Ah summer... most bewitching and fickle of seasons.

Mary said...

Ah yes, I have heard you have had an unsummerlike summer there this year. Hopefully you will have a beautifully warm and sunny fall!

Anonymous said...

Dave - I commented - did it not come through? - Let me know if not by coming back to my blog or commenting on dVerse!

So much to really like in this poem - not least the sense of humor, but also the lyrical quality and particularity of your sensitivity- tulle! k.

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

Welcome back dear David. Your poem reflects the English weather I experienced myself in early August, but I prefer that to the Italian tropical heat we are having now.

Something I can't yet fully believe happened to me. It seems I'll have a collection published in the future, made of 29 poems basically elegies...I'll write about it in the blog when things are more definite.

I hope you have had a relaxing time.

hedgewitch said...

Ugh--we've been enduring the exact opposite of this, with everything ceasing to bloom and thrive because of incessant heat and drought--the whole planet is just out of whack. Thanks for making me grateful for sunshine--up to a point. ;_)

Victoria said...

Dave, the way you speak to the season is so effective and the contrast you create between what should be/usually is and the way it happened for you this year works well. Nice descriptive details.

ds said...

"the season that can tease
bright tints in abundance..."
Yes, it is. All the more appreciated when the rain stops, as you say.
That last line is fabulous! Thank you.

Rachna Chhabria said...

Wonderful poem, Dave! Loved the word choices :)

sunny said...

lovely post Mr Dave.

august1aday said...

Such delightful images, with the party-dress butterflies and the 'Hell's Angels' [=Swifts] cutting patterns in the sky.
Uplifting and pretty harvest/summer read.

Dave King said...

Apologies are in order in that I thought I had temporarily switched off the moderation while I was away. Obviously, I hadn't, and there they all were, your comments, waiting for me when I returned. I have now read them all and will respond to as many as I can manage. Thanks, and once again, my apologies.

kaykuala said...

A classic write,Dave! The contrast you depicted was great, what was and what should be!

Hank