Summer Solstice 20

The Summer Solstice

four times a year I want to particularly notice

what the day is like when the seasons change,

how the stately dance of Earth and Sun

reveals itself if we but open ourselves to notice,

and we can perceive the constants within the ephemeral mercurial,

today has been near perfect

as the air has the heat of summer 

but not yet the oppressive humidity,

the sun, at its highest in the sky,

shafts clarity into the forest

below clear blue sky and bright white billows of clouds,

we spend the gift of the morning

hiking hard two miles up a high valley

following a pathway used for maybe 10,000 years

to step over the mountains,

we follow the prong,

skirting where bedrock tumbles the water white and loud,

till we get to a high pool

water falls and we can dip in the cold, cold water,

the heat of our bodies previewing the summer to come,

the cold of the water remembering 

the winter that was,

and will be again,

the forest celebrates the change of season

with rosebay rhododendron blooming with abandon,

white flowers that hold and hold

and then take turns dropping onto dark moss or clear water below,

as if to scatter blossoms to celebrate a wedding,

the blossoms begin their bloom with a tinge of red

so that the white stands out even more,

up close on one petal in each group 

a pale lime-green freckled patch

birthmarks the blooming,

today is a time for life

to hold and build with the bounteous energy

the stately dance allows,

a few leaves feel the next act impending

and release the color within them,

as they sit out the current dance.

by Henry H. Walker

June 20, ‘20