When the Summer Loved the Winter

When the Summer loved the Winter
He wouldn't leave in September
Like he was supposed to
And the Autumn became irritated
And banished the Summer
To an island in the Pacific

There he wrote poems to the Winter
To try and cheer her
For she seemed to be such a dreary season
Not like the Spring
Which he used to love
But who was always leaving him
Before he could even arrive

He sat on a hammock
And watched the ocean
Played with small children
And ate cantaloupe everyday

But still he thought of the Winter
And how cool her fingers felt
Touching upon his neck

They had met on a night in February
When the Summer had gotten lost
On his way to Africa

There they danced on a frozen pond
And when he melted the water
They slipped underneath it
And made love amongst the reeds
And the sound of stones
Being skipped across the surface
By a girl and a boy
On their very first date

When the Summer awoke
The Winter was gone
But she left four fingerprints
Blue and faded
Firmly on his neck

So he searched for her
But though he could find her actions
He could not find her identity

Her trails would circle around
And embrace themselves
And Autumn told him to give up
Saying that the Winter was elusive
That she was not like the Summer
Which could be lived in

She was something one must survive

There was no way to love
Something like her

But he did not listen to Autumn
And he did not worry about Spring
And when it was his time to arrive
And warm the sand
With his toes

He felt he could not do it properly
Because he was so distraught
Having spent months looking for the Winter
And to no avail

So it rained all those months
When it was supposed to be dry
And nobody went on vacation
And nobody went outside
And everyone wondered
What had happened to the Summer

By the time the Autumn came
She found that everyone
Was angry at her
For coming before they had received
A proper share of warmth and sunlight

But when the Summer offered to stay longer
The Autumn grew angry
That he should be so lazy
And then so selfish
To take time away from her
That she exiled him away
And that was how he wound up
Laying in a hammock on an island
In the Pacific

But one night...

One night when he was asleep
He felt a cool breeze dance by him
And he awoke to find the Winter
Resting lightly on his chest

When he asked how she was able to be here
Here where it was always too hot for the Winter
And only satisfying to a season like him
She said to him--

'A love like yours cannot unmake the Winter
It cannot make the Winter warm
But it can make the unbearable bearable
It can take a world of ice
And grant it just enough light
So that it is a cool breeze
Coming off the ocean'

And she stayed there softly on his chest
Until the summer sun came out onto the ocean
And declared that today
Would be a different sort of day