It feels like summer has shied away from these shores. The days of sitting in a park reading a book seem long gone, unless we have our jeans and jackets on.

Maybe the UK gives it a chilly welcome to start with because it’s all so strange to us.

But we still have a deep appreciation for how it makes us feel.

For a few short weeks or months (if we are lucky) we can bathe in its rays. Allow skin to absorb some natural vitamin D. Let clothing and mood be light.

Make pretend we have days without end to linger, lounge and let loose. Night comes late and light seeps slow away.

Then just as we begin to stop moaning about the heat and start to enjoy the mediterranean-style food, feasting and feelings, it lifts its skirts and runs away.

Such is the position now.

August has been dire. All dirty rain, drear and gloom.

But hey, we Brits are made of stern stuff. We know how to laugh in the gales and smile through the showers, don’t we?

Or sit and reflect on season’s passing, as we enter a new season to live, love, learn and laugh at the days to come.

Or compose poetry that imagines the summer that never was. The one that got away, though we never did.

So here, in a last-ditch attempt to enjoy the season, I offer no deep thoughts or reflection today.

No, this is just a simple summery scene from the senses in gratitude for a gift of grace that often fades as swift as our tans. Though maybe a final flurry will warm our hearts before Autumn sets in.

Just because… life is too short to mourn what is lost and not embrace what lies ahead. And that’s a lesson for me as I slide ever closer toward a new decade and a new season to enjoy.

‘High summer’

Feathery quill strokes

soft across azure sky,

entrail cotton-wisps

threaded through the blue,

barely discernible hint

of shade or shadow

High summer living

ease-taking, merrymaking,

cares left to subside as bubbles

sparkling in water or wine

Dreamily drifting with eyes

closed tight against the sun

shaded by flick of hand,

with glasses swung on and off

as clothes get cast aside

and limbs bathe free

Chlorinated heat-waves

lapping over face and form

Shrieks and splashes sounding

muffled, entrenched as we are

in pursuit of floating oblivion,

relaxation, chilled-out living,

sunshine, sea and sweet savour

of pleasure ours for the taking

©JoyLenton2013

And here’s a little chill-out music to help you feel summery for just a bit longer…