Summer is here but winter is coming

Summer is here but winter is coming

They came in the summer to watch the life of the pathway,

She was in shorts and boots and he in a wheelchair but smiling and bright,

They went down the pathway of sunlight.

Looking up he saw that same sun shining through the trees, new life was appearing.

They also saw those squirrels that had come into life now grown and burying food for winter,

Young fledglings flying for the first time from the nests they both saw built.

The filed now cracked in between the grass, no rain falling in the field, no fish now just dust and brown grass.

She bent down and picked mushrooms growing in the grass.

He smelled them as the buzzards flew round on high in wide circles,

They circles getting wider as they found the thermals to glide by,

Under them a kestrel was looking for dinner,

Flapping wings so as not to move but concentrate on the kill that was his way.

And a small mouse running its last race in life, soon to be dinner for someone.

They pushed on further and saw the rays of sunlight shining through the trees,

Calling him home to his next adventure, waiting though until his time is right,

She pushed the wheelchair and he saw a fox stray onto the path,

They all stopped the fox sniffing to see if they were friend or foe,

The two of them just not believing that they had come to this place at this time,

Now just taking a deep breath and taking a picture on a cell phone.

Then the moment was gone and the fox was on its way and they smiled at the gift they had,

Summer smells and summer finds the buzzards now so high that only the wings could be seen,

Circling in the sky blue air of this summer’s day.

They went home exhausted at their day out but for different reasons,

She not able to push much more,

Him not able to cope with so much in a single day anymore,

His winter was coming.

©Fred West 2011

I have been the girl in shorts Fred. Beautifully put. When this is going on in one's life it plays out just as you wrote. Enjoy what you can, when you can. Moments are fleeting . . ..

Thanks, bev

Fred,
Very nicely put!
I too have been that girl in shorts!
Cheryl