Have you heard of the last rose of summer?

Or, maybe they mean the last throes of summer,

When we are enthralled with August or September;

Do you remember?

When Nature, green and lush as ever she will be,

Beckons with every last charm to linger,

Clutch her in your arms.

Savor all the plump and juicy days before the fall –

Our fall into the quintessential bliss that fills our eyes and

Lusty souls with harvest abundance of

Round pumpkins, golden squash, rosy apples,

Full comfort and contentment

Before the leaves desert the trees and fall and

We begin a fattened sleep beneath the blanket that is snow.

But for now, we linger in the throes –

The last throes of Summer.

Cherry Odelberg September 13, 2023