Spring's End

Athens, Georgia
late May, 2018

As surely as earth tilts toward the sun 

the long spring slumps into summer.

Today the pastel sunrise 

tints the cirrus with hints of pink.

Soon the sky will glow again

with the radiance of late May.

Now the catalpa is covered in white. 

Now the southern magnolia blooms.  

The scented air softens skin

and works its way into bones.

Wooden door frames begin to swell 

and windows stick in their tracks.

The canopy crawls with aphids 

trailing their sweet organic sheen.

As a hickory drips the sticky dew 

onto the frame of my Ford, 

I sense that spring has run its course.

Time to retreat to the edges of night –

The summer lull has just begun;

a hundred days of heat ahead.

Southern Catalpa