Cover for White Cranes of Heaven, 2011, Lulu.com Watercolor, janekohut-bartels
JULY MOON
A pale moon rises,
Unheralded, surprising us
With its presence so early at dusk.
It wavers in the summer heat
Like a ghost under water.
The cicadas hold their breath-
Their leg-fiddles muted,
And the earth turns quiet
If only for a moment.
Brushing the lush green tree tops
It floats upward into a still-lavender sky,
Gaining presence, strength, gloss
As it balances in the darkening light,
A well-trod path– fascinating eternity.
A world-weary face appears
And casts a bemused gaze downward
Before sailing through the night
Into the harbor of Dawn.
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2017
( a version of “JULY MOON” was published in “White Cranes of Heaven”, 2011, at Amazon.com)
The summer is so beautiful, despite the heat. Last night the moon looked like a beggar’s cup, brilliant in the sky. The days in the Deep South are sultry, but the wind picks up in the late afternoon when a storm is coming and then these huge oaks and pecans are whirligigs high in the sky.
Barley tea, iced tea and lemonade are the drinks of choice during the summer, harkening back to earlier times. Closed drapes, blinds in the heat of noon day sun actually work to regulate the temperature , though one doubts this will.
The heat brings to life the cicadas, or whatever is making a constant buzz outside. It comes in waves, where one group, or species, competes in sound with another. The dogs of summer are wise: they flatten themselves on the cool tiles of the laundry room and remain motionless until the cooling of the night where they chase rats in the kudzu. They also have developed a taste for watermelon, and we sit on the steps of the back porch and share with them, while a wood owl sounds from an huge oak above us. We never see him, but his hoots are a fixture of the summer nights.
Lady Nyo
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Lady Nyo's Weblog 
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