“When summer gathers up her robes of glory, and, like a dream, glides away.” ~ Sarah Helen Whitman
Our end-of-summer recap posts will go up next weekend, but for now a little sneak preview cloaked in shadow and distorted by glass and reflection. Like the watery haze of a chlorinated pool, or a sun so bright it adds an impossible sheen to everything beneath its glory, summer is a heady mix of the seen and the unseen. The world grows bigger and brighter and greener before our eyes, the pace seems simultaneously quick and languid, and the air feels heavy and light all at once.
The bulk of September, lest anyone forget, is still summer. I always lost sight of that when returning to Brandeis at the end of August. I would prepare for sweater weather and cold nights, and always regret that I didn’t bring more short-sleeved shirts for un-air-conditioned dorm rooms and stuffy T rides. We are so quick to let summer go.
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” ~ John Lubbock
This year I’m making the most of it until the very end, holding onto every last ray of sunlight, basking in every day we inch back up toward the 80’s. Summer has been kind to us. It isn’t always, so I offer gratitude and thankfulness as we near its end.
“I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year.” ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay
