Rain painted the backyard green every morning
in early June
The maples and oaks spread wide and full
to frame the garden
and the scenery bloomed
Carrie came by with jugs
of rum punches and margaritas
we drank on the patio
mid afternoons
laughing silly about life so far
There were breezes for a change
We often said, “Lucky us,”
to have redbirds on the grass,
hummingbirds above the flowers
Squire Squirrel watched us silently
with folded paws, we hoped, amazed
Carrie came by with grilled sweet corn,
salt and peppered, dripping with butter,
that we gnawed cold with t-bones
Our ideas for plays fell apart half way
The longing sound of cicadas arrived
much too soon
behind prosceniums of dusk
Hearing them, we stood and hugged
in the swinging curtains of the lone willow,
cried at the end of that remarkable summer
when Carrie came by and we lived our parts
on a real life stage in open air