Originally posted on Thursday, June 16, 2011, 2:50:00 AM
This poem was first published in the Texas Poetry Calendar 2011 by Dos Gatos Press.
Approaching June
in loving memory of Ron Neugebauer,
April 17, 1955- June 18, 2008
Summer was picking dewberries
in the hot Texas sun,
fingers dyed purple from sampling;
we couldn’t wait to get home
and eat them in a bowl with cream.
Summer was the gangly limbs
of young teens squealing
and flirting in the back yard
swimming pool, relishing
the blissfully boisterous blue.
Summer was the sweet smell
of honeysuckle wafting
through the near-still heat,
rocking in a hammock,
drinking bottled root beer.
Summer was escaping the
humidity in the soft, safe hush
of the recliner by the window,
avidly reading a book
while the cats napped on the porch.
Summer was a white gate,
now tainted with the loss of you—
the bright fence painted
in a wash of gray—
and it will never be the same.
© Annie Neugebauer Tilton. All rights reserved.
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