I wake to silence. No chirping of the birds.
Look out to glimpse a pale, gray sky.
No sun nor sharp shadows.
A dull, evenly lit world.
Winds from the east may warm her with kisses
making goosebumped waves of her skin
but sends a chill down my neck and reminds me
she is not my May to September lover.
Happy my Hawks hoodie still hung heavy on the hook,
I now see the sun melted like butter soaking into clouds
so heavy and low not even the airplanes are seen or heard.
So long before I’m enveloped in her embrace.
So long before every hair on my skin slowly sways
as we pitch and roll in mermaid play.
I long for her.
Jealous of the freighter on the horizon.
Jealous of the beaches and the rocks and the piers and the cribs.
They always have her, all year, forever.
Until they ebb into her eternity.