Creature Feature – Summer Delights

Summertime is here again

Just listen to that trilling wren!

Berries ripen on the vine

In sun-soaked sweetness, so sublime.

At arrival of the dawn

A doe returns to nurse her fawn,

And in the glade a buck beds down

Adorned with regal velvet crown.

Beetles with metallic shells

Get plucked from rose and coral bells,

By chickens as they peck and scratch

Inside a cheerful garden patch.

Cornstalks stretch in tidy rows

Abutting fields where horses doze,

With tails a-swish (darn those flies)

Emitting drowsy horsey sighs.

Vines crawl up the pasture gate,

Cicadas drone to find a mate.

Finches flit amid the thistles

Fearless of the spiny bristles.

Shade trees arch to block the sun

That packs a punch ‘til day is done.

Ice cream shops work overtime

To scoop out cones for folks in line.

Flowers rim the dusty roads

And wetlands thrum with frogs and toads.

Bees go buzz and sparrows trill,

Mild breezes cross the windowsill.

Hummers hum on tiny wings

More beautiful than gemstone rings.

Daisies bloom beneath blue skies

Attracting lovely butterflies.

Row boats bob beneath the clouds,

Far from the city’s jostling crowds.

Water laps along the edge

Grown wild with willow, reed, and sedge.

Herons skulk, in silent stalk,

On stilt-like legs they wade and walk.

The fragrant scent of fresh-mown hay

Drifts down from hills across the bay.

The wind picks up out of the north

And darker clouds come roiling forth.

Lightning streaks and thunder rolls

As whitecaps break on rock-strewn shoals.

Rain pelts down upon the streets

In heavy, soaking, drenching sheets.

Hurry, scurry, flee indoors!

While Mother Nature rants and roars.

Though it’s only just begun,

The storm is over – there’s the sun!

Kids emerge, their play resumed,

A baseball game no longer doomed.

Then high above from end to end

A rainbow arcs in vibrant bend.

Like the storm it fades away,

Where did it go, well, who can say?

The sun sinks down, gone too soon

But now we spy the glowing moon.

Rising full it fills the sky

Like an enormous firefly.

Nighttime rings with hoots and yowls

From ‘coons, coyotes, and barred owls.

Crickets chirp their songs amid

The chorus of the katydid.

Mellow days and magic nights

Are part of Summertime’s delights.

Soak it up, enjoy it all,

For all too soon it will be Fall.

Poem & photo by Margie Manthey