A cool solstice eve:
it rained all day.
Ducks lolled, alert for drizzle’s ebb,
under branches, ducklings sheltering
under their outstretched wings.
Here & there thunder undulated
from one side of lake
to the other,
then off to a wild yonder.
The bustle of shower slicking off leaves
kept up a steady pace
while wind grayed the green day.
What was a casual twilight stroll
became a shivering briskness.

The next day
sun broke from clouds
& humidity settled on spiderwort
& thinning lily.
Lilac shards & confetti salvia
threaded flowerbeds & dappled grass.
Robins assaulted the wet soil
throbbing with earthworms.
Ducks cast off from shore,
darted, sailed, darted, their quacking & rasping
cutting thick air.
Ducklings’ peep, peep, peep
punctuated lake’s expanse.
Midday heat alit on skin,
lodged there for the duration of an amble.

Now, in the evening,
ducks are silent
while pickerel frogs let loose their drawn-out croaks,
creaking under moon’s bright eye,
joined by spring peepers filling up the air,
shrill cacophony.
Strains of crickets’ strident stridulations begin,
& katydids add their rasping pulse,
two, three, four, two,
to the sonata.
Time flickers in fireflies
rising like slow embers of summer’s bonfire.
A shock of daisies stands still
like a crepuscular pause
by water’s brink,
smoldering.