Sweet, Sweet June

The green of May can never stay but climbs the tallest trees

As Dandelion gold unfolds in soft-swept silver seas

The Thing that long we pined for in the wintry afternoon

Unfurls in girlish pink of lupine, peony and June

The lilac-breeze and white-frothed melodies of orchard-tress

Falls prey to yesterday as May dons farewell’s emptiness

And we hunt for permission slips signed by the blue-eyed sky

To linger longer on the turf of bloom and butterfly

The footing of an hour, like a bower gold and gray

Is fragile as the halo on welkin of waking day

It disappears in moments filling years, where tears of time

Trickle in tick-by-tock descent the ladder that we climb

New little boys dash from dawn’s doors, their mothers learn new prayers

A new old generation surrenders to rocking chairs

And ever new, the old, though never reimbursing hours

Eases the petal from its fold and refills June with flowers 

 The green of May can never stay, the banter of the breeze
Unfolds its Dandelion-gold to soft-swept silver seas

 As every Thing we pined for in cold, storm-lorn afternoon

Unfurls in pink of lupine, peony and sweet, sweet June

© Janet Martin