The Summer Solstice / Not Asking Why

The Summer Solstice / Not Asking Why

The summer solstice comes but does not stay.
The sun that arced to north now treks to south.
As sunswept June replaces faded May
So will December see November out.

And in the winter, on that longest night,
The stars will shine like jewels in the sky.
And in the morn, we'll see the rising light
Has shifted slightly north, not asking why...

The water rises, peaks and then it falls,
As wave and tide respond to wind and moon.
As skies grow dark from clouds, a peacock calls.
The time to mate, he knows, is ending soon.

A stone that's thrown ascends, in graceful arc,
And then descends towards the waiting ground.
And so does light of day secede to dark,
As season follows season, 'round and 'round.

How many shining suns in peacocks' tails,
How many stars that burn in solitude...
By southern cross and star of north she sails,
The ship that bears the free to servitude...

How many drums are beating, soft or loud,
With rhythms – pulsing, pulsing swift or slow...
How many forms are taken by a cloud,
How many lives, in which we come and go...

The summer solstice comes but does not stay.
As new comes in, the old is ushered out.
So empires rise and reign and then decay.
So suns are born that shine and then go out.

This June will soon be yielding to July,
And summer will give way, again, to fall.
And fall will yield in turn, not asking why,
As winter will to spring – and we to all.

So Nature's limbs revolve – and so do we,
As instinct tells us what to do in turn.
And yet, at times, it falls to you and me
To question why – before we fill the urn.

We yearn for what has passed and won't return,
We long for solace – that of constancy.
The butterfly is touched by morning sun –
And we have moments, rare, of ecstasy...

The summer solstice comes but does not stay.
The guest departs before he's had his tea...
We basked in sun upon the longest day,
Not asking why we came, by chance, to be...

2013 June 22nd, Sat.
Brooklyn