Ohio Summer

I.
A shimmer of wind
Flows between brown-spotted leaves.
The branches dance
And tell stories
Of the golden growing days long past.

II.
The metalwork simmers in the sun,
But the children climb undeterred;
They leave sunscreen smears behind,
Burnishing the metal with small hands.
The children are long gone
When the statue begins to glow softly
In the shining evening.

III.
Half-blind in the midday light,
A pair of eyes gazes,
Until a distant tree
Contorts its branches
Into a face,
And laughs at the eyes’ surprise.

IV.
When the sun gets too bright,
The trees sit down on the lawn,
Surrounded by puddles of shadowy skirts.

V.
Gravestones mutter restlessly,
Bemoaning the lost summer silence
Mourning the buzz of flies and the rustle of trees
Now replaced 
By the drones and hums
Of air conditioning and automobiles-
The pulsating soundtrack 
Of this new-fangled style of season.

VI.
Sun drenches grass
Like the remnants 
Of a tenth-birthday-water balloon battle,
Leaving lawns saturated 
With golden light.

VII.
Wispy clouds
Wash across a bright blue sky
A quilt sewn
From a patchwork of visions.

VIII.
Empty fields frolic in the breeze,
Shivering in the memory
Of now-grown children.