June 21, 2011

how summer began

A warm night, tiny lights of distant houses, a slight misting
descending the valley, and I tossed on a chaise
outside under a half-moon. I was tired but sleep was resisting.
Too much colliding in my head, so I lifted my gaze
to the tree above. A pair of owls warbled something
to each other, and I rose from the cushion and eavesdropped.
Then, it was as if the whole world was talking –
crickets and insomniac birds and a distant coyote – I stopped
counting voices and felt only this great carpet
of sound soften around me until I quit fighting, and slept.