An ode to August
of
bergamot and late-blooming butterfly weed,
Asclepias tuberosa.
Mixed
in were some yarrow and the earliest goldenrod,
a Solidago, but which species
I don’t know.
Remembrance
of grandma’s farm;
a
reminder that summer is beginning to fade.
Butterfly
wings laden with last night’s rain,
too
heavy to fly yet today.
But
with the promise of sun and 80 degrees,
a
fulfilling nectar feast awaits.
The
spider webs are not hidden today,
heavily
outlined by pearls of dew.
The
bees were already starting their work of the day.
My
retriever is happy to chase the scents,
some
from new colonies of baby rabbits.
Is
this batch number 2 or 3 this season?
Last
year there were fewer, but more groundhogs.
Brood
#2 of the barn swallows greeted me this morning
from
their nests on our barn beams.
Parents
return from the fog with food.
It is
quite lush and green for this late in the summer,
a
sign of lots of rain.
Lots
of insects for the birds and bats,
the
tick numbers are temporarily down.
I
enjoy the quiet solitude, but can’t help but think
that
soon, like the birds that will be heading south,
my
oldest son will migrate to college.
