The Three Daughters of Summer

 

Three daughters of summer stand strong
Like unshadowed pillars of stone
Against the impatient rushing of seasons
The arms of Spring reach into May
With stretching budding tendrils
While the leafy twines of Autumn 
Stretch back into Augusts windy days
Does that leave much in between?

June comes first without introduction
With the first moments of warmth so bright
She is the fairest and youngest of them
And I could not welcome her more
The pleasant days that she brings
Playing with gentle ripples of breeze
Her sunlight hair dancing in the trees
But was she really here at all?

Then July her serious older sister
Right in the middle of the passing year
At the height of the summer long
She brings an inescapable heat
The clouds are only futile attempts
Nothing more, faint wispy and white
The merest of impressions
Brush strokes on a drying palette

Finally August the most uncertain
She is sad by the first of the leaves
That are turning colour ready to fall
Keeping Septembers zephyrs at bay
It becomes harder every day it seems
The world has turned against her
No more girls basking in the Sun
With an unstoppable heat in them

And later in an English Winter fire
My mind will so naturally return
To the happy thoughts of you three
Dancing around my garden green
A day here and there that was
Such a dazzling example of you
How I long for your return
To warm my aching bones

Reviews

[Emerald Seas]

This is fabulous! Thoroughly enjoyed the imagery and metaphor. A warm thought to keep readers smiling through the summer heat, and then again in winter's chilling grasp.

[NA]

Wonderful unique read...really enjoyed :)

[quinfinn]

brilliant metaphor! in recent years we have had less in the way of seasonal change, due to global warming. here in Carolina we go straight from winter to summer and back to winter....it seems the sister's family is expanding. you lovely poem is a gentle reminder of the way things used to be. well done!

[John Alexander McFadyen]

This Leigh has to be the deepest of your poems I have ever read. It is simp-le in concept but deep in feeling and description. I wish summer was still like this!

[TL Boehm]

such a lovely poem - I think the verse about June was perhaps my favorite - but the last two lines for August was a humorous bit.
Wonderfully penned.

[Brett Pritchard]

Nice piece. So much going on here, not least the literal depiction of the summer months themselves, but also a metaphorical, almost mournful quality, for the passing of the various phases of ones life. I enjoyed reading this.

[Brett Pritchard]

Indeed. That's a nice idea. 😊

[Pete Langley]

I love the concept, Leigh. I think, though I enjoyed your descriptions, I would have liked you to extend the metaphors to identify more of the disparate characters of the three girls ...weaving a fantasy around them. Just a thought though. A very enjoyable piece. P.

[Shivam Murari]

This has been incredibly personified. I love the metaphors and the flow. An thrilling read :)

[Sami Khalil]

A splendid read and write...Well done...Bravo