transitioning into Summer
the school year abruptly ends
amid a flurry of evaluations and ceremony,
one day I’m there, all webbed to students and staff,
and the next day I’m off to the Smokies,
to slip into different, older webs,
which also define me,
which give me purpose,
that center and ground me,
nature here not the background
but rather the focus of my days,
this year we chose our piedmont home
to be a halfway house for a time,
we chose to spend a week with house and garden,
and naps, whether in sleep or in videos,
and now we are in mountains:
mostly a green backdrop to the days
with white flowering rhododendron above a tired old stream,
low and gently murmuring,
while inside summer transparency apples call us
to transform them into wonder,
chickens boil for chicken salad 6 weeks from now,
pork-filled buns and angel biscuits call me to make them,
it all feels right to the Southerner in me
who long ago learned a lesson
that body and soul need quality food provided,
so that we can connect better with family and friends,
and deepen how fully we appreciate the moments
we have with each other and with the the rightness below it all
that many of us call God.
by Henry H. Walker
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