July

Cornflower blue
suddenly appears on roadsides
everywhere
as the miracle it is.
Equally bright in the sun
or the mottled drops of rain,
the smooth surface
of absolute color
strikes the otherwise green.

My hands so often on the wheel
I smile at the ways I have arrived
with purpose,
confidence into another summer.

Just for today
I will not worry
about winter.
I will laugh at the way
the world romances me
with flowers
that grow wild
at the edge of the path.

Orange lilies and Queen Anne’s lace
dance. Pinks and daisies can’t help
themselves. Black-eyed Susan
incorrigible in their short, golden glory
near the purple heads of milkweed that sing
before weaving themselves
into the cocoons that will sleep
until the silky wings of fall
unfold into the looming darkness.

But come, July,
and the suddenness
of this glorious waking

in all this beauty
of unstoppable,
breath taking
light.