Summer is no more, deceased, dead, and is gone.
Today is the day the summer dies and I mourn as it passes.
Freshly scrubbed children gather in a noisy throng;
For the lazy weeks are replaced with stuffy school classes;
Today is the day of the dreaded return;
The first day of September and the first day of term.
The tired rooms that have been closed for weeks
Smelling of wood polish, chalk and dust, are now a cage
Confining their charges as the warm afternoon slowly creeps;
A tantalising reminder of a previous page.
New uniforms, crisp mornings and the return;
The first day of September and the first day of term.
The hedgerows turn russet under a blanket of dew
And the horse chestnuts ripen under the cooling sun.
Haunting September; the harbinger of autumn anew.
Chill mornings and warm afternoons a hint of the winter to come.
No longer for me the dreaded return;
The first day of September and the first day of term.
September forebodes trees reaching naked against leaden skies
Full of snow, rain and sleet, and night falling at four in the afternoon.
I love the mellow colours and gentle warmth as summer dies
And the memories it dredges unbidden that flew by too soon.
Relieved am I though, that I no longer have to return;
On the first day of September and the first day of term.
Taken from Where My Muse Takes Me. © Longrider 2006; all rights reserved.
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