High Summer

High summer, the days are long, nights brief,

Cool quiet evenings seem longer than both.

A time for lovers, the old and the young,

To walk together, talk to each other,

Be silent, engrossed in love, sealed by a kiss,

All around them nature approves, blesses them both.

Shadows lengthen, birds finish their even song,

And nestle down to sleep, a perfect day complete.

Then nature’s nightshift shuffles and stirs,

Comes to life, and prepares for work.

For preditors must live side by side with others.

The lovers still cling to each other, in timeless embrace.

Shadows deepen into silent darkness,

Shattered by a Hare’s death cry – so like a child’s

cry of distress. The Fox provides supper for his

Hungry family.They too must eat or die.

An involuntary shiver, a moment of fear alarms the lovers,

Time to go home to rest, to dream of tomorrow.

The dawn arrive promising another fine day,

Nature’s night shift creeps off to sleep.

Now the dawn chorus faintly starts it’s overture,

Then resounding in a sky full of sound.

The lovers awake greeted by nature’s smile,

They sigh, reach out and touch, drift off to sleep.