Solsticing

The canopy of maple leaves bathes in sunlight on the Summer Solstice. Still for a moment, the legion of leaves ripple lie a stadium crowd doing the wave.

Despite the abundance of daylight left on this longest of days, afternoon shadows creep across the front yard. The street already basks in the shade.

I’ve spent my Solstice grading the last-minute assignment submissions of students desperate to graduate, or dodge summer school. I spend it now awaiting a parent’s completed google form about her daughter. I will spend it on the deck, enjoying the dinner whose aroma already has my mouth watering.

But while Summer officially begins on this traditionally midsummer day, I struggle with the fatigue with which I awoke. And all the endless light of this longest day does is taunt me with the promise of my bed.

A promise that won’t be…