summer vacation ends

Yoyoing Back

I feel like I’m a yoyo spinning free,
for a time, at the end of my string,
enjoying the last whirls of summer vacation,
till work gives a sharp tug and reels me back up and in,

a week from tomorrow my school year begins
with a staff retreat by the Atlantic Ocean,
this evening night falls on me a few miles from the Pacific,
the sun’s last light almost glowing
on the bay and slopes below me,

tomorrow we’ll pack ourselves into the can of the airplane,
and we’ll fly most of the way home,
we’ll stop in the Smokies to reacquaint with the East,
the heat and humidity we haven’t missed,
the gentle old mountains, laughing creek,
and traveling bears we have,
the tugs on our attention we’ve barely felt
will get us to move,
to ready us for work,
remaking the home, returning to a nest,

to be pulled back up and in is right,
the tether holds me
and I remember the efforts to which I am called,
for now, though, I feel the loss of the summer.

by Henry H. Walker
August 14,’10