As the last bright days,
now passed,
recede into the vast expance
I call my experience
A newer force appears and moves
In to its place in time.

I ponder moments of this last short summer
Receding waves of time now passed.

The wide, wide open blue
Of the skies o’erhead,
And the places that I went–
Now only memories.

The places that I have
visited–still visit in my heart.
All the places I have known and loved.

I recall a thrashing moment
running down a hill,
along a winding trail, to a valley floor;

I recall a blissful moment
Revelling in the life
reverently watching whales
as they crossed the bow;

I recall a serene, surreal moment,
watching a painted sky
of red, orange and yellow,
fade into the ink of night;

I recall a happy moment
when a familiar smile,
a happy loving face I know
did come and hold me near.

I recall so many moments,
though disjointed in the sequence of time,
now united in my memories:
Into a string of happiness.

A string of happy moments,
Now I call my past,
Happy, solemn moments of a summer
that’s now over.