Once spring came blushing along,

With bouquets of flowers and birds with songs.

Life was vivid and renewed for a time,

As freshness came, we left winter behind.

Ah, the joy of a cool spring morn

Lifting its’ veil as the earth grows warm.

Newness of life fills the air

As rebirth springs up everywhere.

Oh, but soon summer had sauntered in

Bringing heat to the night and putting storms in the wind.

Sounds of young siblings rustling with life

Fill the air as they dream of flight.

Still waters spring to eerie life

As mosquitoes and serpents rule the night.

Darkened windows tell of homes left alone

As lonesome pets await their friend who have gone.

School bells ring to empty halls

While janitors repaint graffiti walls.

Each year too soon, this one is no different,

Summer gives way to autumn’s indifference.

Football is king in the Deep South

Ruling every mind and sprayed form every mouth.

No bastion is safe, not even the church house

From the tomahawk chop or the Gators’ big mouth.

Small ball is still played everywhere,

But the Yankees always win and down here we don’t care.

Homework abounds and romance is in bloom

At every schoolhouse and in every room.

As the time of my life flashes by

I sit in wonder, why, oh why?

Mother would light candles in the evening when I was young,

And hold me close to tell me how she was proud of her son.

Tonight I stopped the world from turning for a while,

I placed a lit candle in my window and remembered my mother’s smile.