~ATHENA KILDEGAARD~

MIDDLE AGE

---

Late afternoon, the crickets' vibrato songs
like urgent telegrams from the frontier
announce the summer's longest day.
Already we're waiting for rain
and the tomatoes haven't set their fruit,
the lilies arch, heavy with tight blossoms.
We sit on the patio with our gin and tonics,
the grass expectant before us. Children
should be here, in bright suits,
leaping through arcs of water. Instead
they're older, loosed and off with friends,
and we sit in the shade, listening.

 
 

© by Athena Kildegaard