In some circles, the official mark of summer beginning is an absence, namely of the big yellow school buses on their daily runs. Ergo, summer is here, for real.
To celebrate the occasion (it is cause for celebration, yes?), I thought to share Robert Louis Stevenson's "Summer Sun" from his "A Child's Garden of Verses." Read it with your little ones or to remember that delicious moment when warmth and sun were all that stretched before you. And if you're so inspired, share your favorite summer poems in the comments.
Great is the sun, and wide he goes
Through empty heaven with repose;
And in the blue and glowing days
More thick than rain he showers his rays.
Though closer still the blinds we pull
To keep the shady parlour cool,
Yet he will find a chink or two
To slip his golden fingers through.
He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;
And through the broken edge of tiles
Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.
Meantime his golden face around
He bares to all the garden ground,
And sheds a warm and glittering look
Among the ivy's inmost nook.
Above the hills, along the blue,
Round the bright air with footing true,
To please the child, to paint the rose,
The gardener of the World, he goes.
Photo credit: kevin dooley / photo on flickr