Moon Songs and Paper Lanterns
Moon Songs and Paper Lanterns
It’s the last day of June and summer beckons.
I promise myself more leafy afternoons
on a lawn chair, a bottle of sunscreen
in one hand and a flyswatter in the other.
I’m ready for family barbecues and Sunday drives
in the country, leisurely strolls by the lake,
stocking my kitchen with weekly supplies
from the farmer’s market – ripe red tomatoes,
peaches sweet as sugar, fresh corn on the cob
and creamy homemade orange sherbet.
I’ll buy a swing for the front porch
where my sister and I can rock back and forth,
fanning our misty faces like southern belles,
all breezy and full of iced tea,
talking over our girlhood summers,
the Coney Island waterslides and lazy canoe rides
that drifted us to shores dusted in twilight,
just in time for the fireworks show,
for the glow of those Japanese paper lanterns
draped from the sky as we cuddled
with our dates and sang songs to the moon.
But today I think I'll stay inside
my refrigerated house, feeling thankful
for air conditioners and ceiling fans,
June memories and July plans,
and a bowl of orange sherbet at arm’s reach.
By Lisa Lindsey
© 2012 Lisa Lindsey
(All rights reserved)
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