Seven Summers

It was a long wet year
And still she looked for summer
Grown weary waiting for the sun
She saw the sodden fledglings fastened to the trees
And corn lie flat in fields

Each of her seven years
Had summers to remember
Long afternoons in waterfalls
Journeys over mintles, scrambles over hills
And nights spent out of doors

But March stayed around till June
And April passed unnoticed
July hurried in wet holidays
Wellingtons and raincoats, friends would call around
And play at winter games
Clouds stood around by wind
And sun was framed in showers

Eager to run in summer sand
She never bared her body, never shed a sleeve
Her paths are lost in weeds
No chance of summer now

She saw the geese returning
Fieldfares are in the swallow skies
Not a lot of sense in hurrying from school
When all the light is done

It was a long wet year