July

July is a traveller

Who moves between

Spring profusion

And harvest’s satisfaction

She is a thunderstorm

Humming low notes

Along prairie skies

Chanteuse goddess

Swishing her velvet nimbus gown

Raspberries grow fat

Fed by her lachrymal song

July is a lazy time

Over in a blink

Days slip coyly into nights

That stretch out; a cat

languid from the heat

Surveying her realm

From a fence-post throne

July ferries us

Between equinoxes

When women wear

White dresses adorned

With blue flowers

Confusing bees

And enticing lovers

July is sweat licked

From salty lips

By a neon tongue; stained on

Free Slurpee day

Its holy nectar

Sustaining us through

This heat wave

I’ve got to be a poet

On my own time

July piles work upon

Browning shoulders

Branded by creamy stripes

Limning my soft olive skin

She traces with her gaze

While I ache for her touch

Ripe with desire

Longing to wind her golden rays

Around my fingers

Secretly I am

Jealous and possessive

I will sit with July

Ask her why

She races so fast

Towards August

Is he the lover she craves

Already I lament the loss

Of her self effulgence

Still, for an obol

And a kiss

I am reluctant Charon

Loath, but duty bound

Enslaved by eternal rites

Stronger than will or might

Come, it is nearly the hour

I will convey you

In my red kayak

Across the river

North Sakatchewan

As you fade into the west

Look back

I will be here

Waiting for you

.

.

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Made for Mike Singleton's July prompt which you can find here:

https://vocal.media/writers/on-a-july-morning-a-mikeydred-july-dollar-prompt-for-all-vocal-creators