Midsummer

from Moraine

I want to stay in this green world.
I want midsummer to last forever
but August and September crowd the door.

The day are growing short;
night arrives now in the sevens.
I want to stay in this green world

Where my courtyard is full of hopping birds
and sun glows clear in liquidambar leaves.
I want midsummer to last forever.

Regret belongs to the language of others.
Winter belongs in the shade of the eaves.
I want to stay in this green world.

September will pass and then October;
I will embrace them as sisters from heaven.
I want midsummer to last forever

Yet soon I will yield to the kiss of winter
and time will release me from life’s bright fever.
I want to stay in this green world;
I want midsummer to last forever.