Summers' day  

He sits beside the grave…thinking
Remembering that day…
The sun was shining so bright and happy
There was a scent in the air….
You know the one…
That scent of cotton candy… apple spice…and love
The sky was that unusual shade of blue
The one that you only find in the movies
Clouds were non-existent
There was just the hint of a breeze…
He remembers that with a smile

He can see her still as he closes his eyes 
Leans against the cool marble of the stone….
Summers’ stone…

She was bent over the young child…
Her face was all red and flushed from the heat of the sun
Little wisps of hair poking out from around the hat she wore
Frustration written on the face of the child as she reached out
Dusting the front of the child's pants which had gotten covered with grass

Seems to him like he had always known he would meet her that way…
Sun shine… and laughter floating on a summer breeze
As it whispered through the trees and moved 
Tendrils of hair on the nap of her neck

The child decided to try just one more time…
Laughing merrily… they darted away…
With a quick look over their shoulder to be sure she was in pursuit…

A lone tear slides slowly down his cheek…
Life just wasn’t fair…
Why did it have to happen like this?
Why was it that just when all the pieces start to fit together?
Something happened…
Every time…

She had run after the child…
The hat flying off and dancing across the fresh mown grass
Forgotten … as they played
Her hair long and lovely
Sunbeams captured within its strands…
Laughing as she sped after the fleeing child…
Catching the wee one up and twirling them in the air…
Unaware that danger lurked just out of sight
Unmindful of the terrible twists and turns of fate
She had looked up…
His eyes had locked on hers
Time
Stopped

Both recognized the one they were destined to meet

As the car shot from out of nowhere
A drunken driver behind the wheel
A laughing companion at his side
The driver was not even looking
Did not even see the look of shock in her eyes
As the child flew through the air
Knocked from her arms by the violence
With which she was struck

He had somehow…by some fluke caught the child
As he stood … with the crying child clasped to his chest
A terrible sound rent the air
Tearing the quiet to shreds
With a shock he realized it was he
His voice
His pain
His anger
Sounding in the afternoon sun

Was it yesterday… a year ago today?
When he held her for the first and last time
Placed a kiss upon her lips
As he watched the life slip from her eyes
Not even knowing her name…
Yet knowing it was his happiness
He held there in his arms

Setting up once more…
He opens his tired eyes…

Places a single rose… there upon the earth
Above her still form
Rises
And walks
Into
Another
Summerless day

05/15/2003

Posted on 05/16/2003
Copyright © 2025 Kate Demeree