Their summer romance
over, the lovers
still cling
to each other
the way the green
leaves cling
to their trees
in the strange heat
of September, as if
this time
there will be
no autumn.
I've taken this poem directly from my colleague in poetry blogging, and her excellent blog to which I highly recommend subscribing. I thank her for showing me this wonderful poem and apologize for so blatantly copying her idea in posting it!
Summer itself in this poem is like a summer lover. There's a "strange heat" and a reluctance to separate. The poem feels especially appropriate today, a hot September day. It was nearly 95 F today (35 F for my non-American friends) and still, the leaves are mostly full and green, as if no one has told them summer is coming to a close soon.
My favorite line is the hope you can feel in the last stanza. The leaves hold on "as if this time there will be no autumn" and they will not have to part. Anyone who has ever had a summer romance, or any other sort of relationship limited by external time factors will feel those lines deeply. That desperate cling, knowing you must separate, is sweet and painful all at the same time. What a marvelous comparison.
