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Summer Solstice

4:07 AM CDT on July 1, 2023

Solstice evening brilliant,
Cottonwood consortium dapples,
Dispersing seeds complicate the thrilled
Green lake surface.
Leaves quiver, whisper,
full with sun and all,
this late in the day:
"Stay. Everything we need is here."
It will always be so
easy.
It has always been so...

Dragonfly wood duck cattail burst,
Infants, incipience, of every variety...
Summer's sigh boils with
all of life's inevitabilities.
There is no hint yet of yellowing or browning;
Death is yet inconspicuous,
easily missed, off to the side,
stepped over, or too small to see.

But it’s true,
at the hot glorious tragic apogee:
Everything is here now.
I'll stay.

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