Summers Eve

We’re gathered listening from the porch, crickets chirp across the meadow, and frogs emit their deepest croak, over where the water lilies grow, we glimpse at the sight of rapid bats, their echoes through the dusk transpire, one evening when the sun set… as if the worlds’ on fire. Mum and Dad are drinking tea; we boys drink lemonade, Mum’s sharing out the ‘rum balls’, a treat that Mum had made, shadows stretch and lengthen, birds to their roost retire; one evening when the sun set… as if the worlds’ on fire. Flies whirl around the brightening globe, a mantis prays and then devours, Christmas beetles flounder on their backs, before we lose the lightest hours, a ghost moth hits the gossamer web. A guarding spider to inspire; one evening when the sun set… as if the worlds’ on fire. This summer night when air is still, our family’s serene, Dad talked about his childhood, and the places he had been, Mum’s busy plying needles, for clothes that we desire; one evening when the sun set… as if the worlds’ on fire. The warmth’s not only in the air that lingered through this summer day, it’s deep inside the hearts of ours, believing in the family way. So we set aside our special needs, for the bonding we require, one evening when the sun set… as if the worlds’ on fire.