summer

every summer
my children come back to me.
the tenderness.
the laughter.
the softness.
it all comes back
with each rising and setting of the sun,
and i remember them
as  they are.
they shed the weight of the
school year,
the pressures of their peers,
the striving and achieving,
the heavy influences
and long days of
hard studies.
they are free to rest, relax
taking delight in the small things,
and be delighted in.
they become friends with
one another once again,
not separated by grade and status,
they park themselves not too far
from my side
and i rejoice in the gift
of my children returning to me
each june,
getting just a few short
summer months with them
uninterrupted.
the time will come again,
and we will prepare for
autumn,
harvest time will be in
full throttle.
their time will be monopolized with
homework,
school,
and the demands that come with that.
but i will patiently wait for
the next summer to roll around,
and my children will return
back to me.
i only get 18 summers with each of them,
let me not squander
these gifts..