Late Summer by the River

Late summer by the river,

I watch the shadows fall.

The kids have left the nest!

Wondering,

Where will they turn up next?

Alone or together,

We are heading for the Fall.

Dispersed,

The seeds to the wind,

The birds in the air,

Continents away but

We are still here.

Where will life take them?

Can the journey be safe?

We are born to fly and born to die,

Forever contemplating why.

We just do and rarely see.

Let the sun rise over the trees

As the clouds drift on by.

Sitting alone in this chair

My hand moves across the page,

Liberating my thoughts from

The haze of a silent dream.

Empty nest, so they say,

Is the start of a brand new day.

The dog and me and Mary too!

Together we will watch the shadows fall

And the breeze ripple across the water.

As the squirrels gather their nuts

And the brown leaves slowly curl,

As the nights grow softly cool,

The endless summer comes to an end.

The birds have flown,

The flowers wilted,

The fruit is ripe on the vine.

Sad to know

They were all once mine!

As my summer comes to a close,

I think of summers gone by.

Summer is for kids

Who are kids no more.

Autumn is for us.

The twilight of the year.

The days grow short

As the years disappear.

But the young birds return

For many summers to come,

And see new flowers grow,

And know where they are from.