. . . In the mute August afternoon
They trembled to some undertune
Of music in the silver air;
Great pleasure was it to be there
Till green turned duskier and the moon
Coloured the corn-sheaves like gold hair. . . 

~Excerpt from “August,” Algernon Charles Swinburne

Rising early, earlier than intended, and the dogs still asleep or with my daughter, I slipped out before it was too hot, but it was very warm, and hopped on my bike and let the traffic pass me, and took the longer way, the way that feels like it was a bit of a strain a few weeks ago, and now is easy, my legs tuned up so nicely, and I headed toward the dock, for the quiet freshness, and found my friend there, heading off on her paddle board, and i swam beside her, a lazy breast stroke, while she linger paddled and we talked, and then we parted, and I swam to the pump house and back, further than I’d attended, and happily so, finding a rhythm, and then rode home quite satisfied. Frank and I talked briefly at lunch, realizing we have not been away this summer, how strange, and yet the summer has passed with so much satisfaction of our favorite things. We will go away; we will take a trip to Martha’s Vineyard, so much later than usual, and we are feeling the unfamiliar timing, as if the summer could pass without going anywhere and we would not feel as if we’d missed anything. I am not a parent of young children, school age, anymore. And I can only imagine the confusion and stress of trying to envision life this fall. I let myself be blank-headed a bit today: tried for a poem, and just needing to let my head rest. And I met with a lovely writer I know and haven’t connected with in years and she wants to join one of my writer’s groups, and I thought, this is such a nice way to reconnect from an earlier phase of our creative work together. The feathery clouds hung lightly over Farm Pond this morning, and after I climbed up the hill from my swim I caught a single leaf drifting, drifting, drifting from its summer branch, loosened, down to the grass where I stood.