In The Days Before Summer

 

in the days before summer

there was a lot of sailing through to do

the narrow passage to the broadside of life

where again we would meet

not exiled or quarantined

gone the feeling of in-between

when i will be back with you

and she is in court, foaming

 

in the days before summer

when Americans came out of Covid hibernation

removed their masks to reveal the same faces

and partied like the goalpost reached

was the entrance to autumn

feeling better about remaining days

long after we sailed through

torrential white-water rapids

 

it was in the days before summer

the days we would not reminisce

not to think of my domestic distraction

or how i miss her unsolicited caresses

in breaking through to the other side

of heaven's shore with every ebb and flow

step by step crossing over to be

there for the dawn of our morning

 

memorial day was not made to remember

the unofficial start of summer

not where a dragon boat churns

heavily up a warm tropical trough

the phantom will be in the past

with Taiwan sunshine warming me back

as the summer of my life swells

past the dawning days

 

June 13, 2021