I wrote a little free-verse poem for all the students, teachers, and people like myself returning to work next week (or tomorrow, for me) after a summer off. Enjoy!

As summer winds down, and the gentle chill creeps back into the night air,
A summer so full of life, love, and laughter –
As well as unavoidable mirrors of trials and tribulations –
Already seems to be fading into the never truly defined temporal time and space of “long ago.”

How quickly these summers leave us
As the anticipation of the upcoming duties, reunions, busyness,
And adventures of the fall months finally arrive.
Fears tightens the chest as one begins to ponder,
How they could have been so busy doing “nothing” for months at a time?
How can they possibly fit an entire work day –
Or an entire school day –
Back into their lives?
Where is the time?
How did they do it before?
Can they do it again?

What has changed in their friends, in the people they saw every day,
Since they last saw each other?
Will the same rhythm and flow be there,
Or will the span of time separate and divide them?
Which memories have persisted since the great divide of the summer?
Fear knocks on the window of the mind
As the body tries to prepare to return to its previous purpose and pattern as before.
But as one thing ends, another can only begin.

Hope flows, despite the mind’s eternal wanderings into the dark.
Bring forward the new challenges, the new adventures,
The new memories, and the new experiences.
May the year bring wisdom, hope, and growth,
And may the challenges be faced with patience and understanding.
May the changes and unknowns create strength and vitality,
And may the upcoming winter blow fiercely cold only on the outside,
And leave our lives continuing to shine with the residual warmth of summer.