Among the first we learn is good-bye, Your tiny wrist between Dad’s forefinger And thumb forced to wave bye-bye to Mom, Whose hand sails brightly behind a windshield.
—Julia Spicher KasdorfAcross the evening sky all the birds are leaving But how can they know it’s time for them to go? Before the winter fire, I will still be dreaming.
—Sandy DennyThe year’s best blueberry scone Gorgeous needlework being shown Iron skillets being thrown We recall what has always made the Vineyard unique.
—Jerry MuskinThe paper lanterns rise, filled with golden fire, flaming specters devour our heaven sent desires.
—Peter W. ClarkI unclothed myself in silence, draped my flesh upon their flesh, released my dreams to run with theirs, in pairs our quiet clocks chimed in unison.
—Jennifer TsengWhen the blackberries hang swollen in the woods, in the brambles nobody owns, I spend all day among the high branches.
—Mary OliverIn the dog days of summer as muslin curls on its own heat And crickets cry in the black walnut tree The wind lifts up my life And sets it some distance from where it was.
—Meena AlexanderI walk without flinching through the burning cathedral of the summer My bank of wild grass is majestic and full of music. It is a fire that solitude presses against my lips.
—Violette LeducBetween the dusk of a summer night And the dawn of a summer day, We caught at a mood as it passed in flight, And we bade it stoop and stay.
—William Ernest HenleyAmerica! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!
—Katharine Lee BatesI am coming! Hark! the honey bee is humming; See, the lark is soaring high In the blue and sunny sky, And the gnats are on the wing Wheeling round in airy ring.
—Mary HowittThat beautiful season the Summer! Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.
—Henry Wadsworth LongfellowGreat is the sun, and wide he goes Through empty heaven with repose; And in the blue and glowing days More thick than rain he showers his rays.
—Robert Louis StevensonBe who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
—Dr. SeussI, the Rock, I the River, I the Tree I am yours – your Passages have been paid. Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need For this bright morning dawning for you.
—Maya AngelouFew hearts like his, with virtue warm’d, Few heads with knowledge so inform’d; If there’s another world, he lives in bliss; If there is none, he made the best of this.
—Robert BurnsThe wind is tossing the lilacs, The new leaves laugh in the sun, And the petals fall on the orchard wall, But for me the spring is done.
—Sara TeasdaleMy mother dandled me and sang, ‘How young it is, how young!’ And made a golden cradle That on a willow swung.
—William Butler YeatsThe trees are coming into leaf Like something almost being said; The recent buds relax and spread, Their greenness is a kind of grief.
—Philip LarkinOur neighbor felled his Oak. My raspberry patch rejoiced. Spring showers’ gift will be unhindered. Add pine mulch, bumble bees and wait.
—Michael Achille