Withered and Worn

Tired From Summer

Photo by Liana S on Unsplash

I am so very tired
Heat and sunshine, with little moisture
Have wearied me to ash
I cannot take another month like this
I feel like straw beneath a broiler

My family and neighbors
Are also completely drained and burned out
I watch them, brown and beaten
Too many days without much rain
A lack of bloom and sprout

How much longer will this heat persist?
We yearn for a break
Days with milder temps and sunshine
Cooler, more refreshing nights
We have had as much as we can take

Everything seems to have stalled
As if growth and life have halted
Drooping faces prefer to stay indoors
Grooming has also stopped
Who would want to step out to be melted?

Autumn will soon arrive, I know
Not nearly soon enough for me and mine
The trees’ leaves will change in a brilliant display
Then brown, shedding their garments
Their nakedness, so cooling and divine

When fall finally arrives, I’ll need my sleep
We all will, after months of constant bustle
Autumn gives us reason to step back
To slow down and toil less enthusiastically
Under layers of leafy brown decay and crumble

Rains will finally come to sate our dying thirst
Enough to keep us drenched and at ease
Through fall and into winter
I can’t wait for that time to come
For winter and its first freeze

Then we can all go dormant
Fall asleep until the coming spring
When once again we will thrive and grow
Be tended, groomed, and mowed once more
My brown limbs to turn verdant green again

It’s then that we begin to thrive
Under innocent, amusing competition
Which side will be greener
As our tendrils triumphantly rise and shine
Primped for all the neighbors’ recognition

A carpet of soft blades of grass
Once again, we will feel the little toes and feet
Of children and adults at play
We will relish the laughter and joy we bring
Knowing our purpose is complete

Then again, I’ll grow so very tired
From too much hot sunshine, lacking moisture
It will wear us down to withered ash and straw
For yet another month like this
Another stretch beneath a broiler

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