Summer, my love. What’s this I hear about your leaving? It’s awfully early, isn’t it? You just got here.

We don’t have to kid each other, Summer. I knew when you came to town that you wouldn’t stay. You never have. And even though you haven’t yet said it to my face, I’ve heard the talk and seen the signs that tell me you’ve got your bags half-packed.

Just last week I saw the ferns turning brown and brittle. I saw the flower heads turned crisp and crackly. And I saw the fawns, their white spots nearly gone. I saw the wild berries; they were about reading for picking. I saw the squirrels and chipmunks too. They’ve got food on their minds, winter food. That tells me something that you haven’t.

Come on, love. Don’t try to con me. You kiss me with 90-degree heat during the day, and in the evening caress me with the 70s. But just before dawn, I awake and feel the restlessness in you, and the chill sets in.

You set this town on fire almost as soon as you arrived. You put the sidewalks to sizzling and the blacktop to bubbling. You had’em gasping, Summer, and that’s what it’s all about.

And you and me? We fried and we broiled, but sometimes we found the shade where the little creeks run, and we swatted flies and drank the last drop from every cool breeze.

I can’t tell you what to do, Summer. You’ve always gone your own way. But please, oh please, don’t go yet. Take me by the hand and walk with me some more. Tell me again how it was in the olden days and how it will be tomorrow in those places where I can’t see or know.

When nighttime comes, let’s hold each other close, just one more time. Let’s count the stars in your clear summer sky, and let’s listen to the music of eternity as it is played in the throats of frogs, loons, the leaves of trees and the instrumental strings of those who dream the sweetest dreams.

And if you must go, sweet Summer, and I know you must, then let me down easy. We will not be together as many times in the future as we have in the past. There have been more yesterdays than there will be tomorrows.

So stay with me……as long as you can.