July doth come!

In pomp and circumstance she comes,

Her and her golden haired twin, August.

Those laughing, winking, charming girls,

Whose presence we long for so much,

But whose stay is always too short.

 

They come with divine temptations,

Hintings of heaven,

Unspoiled, sweet delicacies

We’d almost forgotten about.

Such as a warm breeze,

Bright red poppies nodding congenially,

Beds of soft, sweet mosses,

Shade on hot, brown skin.

 

Oh they bring their wee lot of stings and prickles,

The odd hot, humid, sleepless night

And the incessant whine in the dark by your ear,

That elusive beast, merely a pencil sketch,

But quite impossible to catch.

But the goodness, the abundance, the joy

Those twins give far outweighs these

Small inconveniences.

 

To rest, as many do when they come,

To stay up late and rise early of ones own will and purpose,

To chase their fiery sunsets,

Mediate in their honey soaked dawns,

To embrace their entertainments,

To splash in their breath-catching water,

To share smoke tinged laughter round their leaping flames,

To sleep in their starry arms

And to awake kissed all over with dew,

And ever serenaded by the robin’s lilting song.

 

We welcome you, twin July!

We welcome you, twin August!

We welcome your beauty

That soothes a white and grey

Winter weary soul.

We welcome your heat,

That melts our icy defenses,

And gently prompts life from death.

We rejoice in the time,

Sweet, liberating, running over, puddling up time,

To do and be and live in epic freedom.

To choose to live beyond the confines and productivity of routine.

To be rebelliously unproductive.

To take each adventure as it comes without excuse or hesitation.

 

Oh, we embrace you dimpled, darling twins,

Midnight air raids, sun burns and all.

Come cover us

In your garlands of blushing roses,

Come decorate our world with the vibrancy of Eden

And woo us deeper into your fleeting, precious world with you.

Oh July doth come!