The Glow of Summer

Welcome back to a summery edition of This Present Moment

Preface: June 2021

The Year is born out of winter, and Spring brings it to bloom.
Its flowering unfurls into this month of June.
Now, Life is everywhere. The Year is finally grown.
It's matured into Summer, its splendor fully shown.

As the Earth has opened up, so too have we.
Suddenly there's crowds babbling in the streets.
Live music's traveling, filling the evening air,
Carrying a Normalcy back into our ears.

America's regaining her collective senses.
She's stretching out her legs and kneading out the tension.
Our faces feel free, our bodies touch when we meet,
And the bounding Pulse of Life once again beats.

Summer's here again, and so too are we.
We reunite with friends and hug our families.
And we all play together, in dreams forevermore, 
In the sacred common ground of our Great Outdoors.

The Glow of Summer

1.

You Know that Feeling during a Perfect Day of Summer?
Where everything around seems to burst with Life and Color.
A glimpse out of your window strokes your heart to flutter, 
And you're seduced to go outside, as if glanced by a lover.
This universal invitation of a Perfect Day of Summer
Calls forth a world of Strangers to commune with one another.
Like everyone has joined in worship of the weather. 
It is this clever way in which the Earth brings us together.

Sometimes those Summer Days arouse a kind of glow,
A joie de vivre which follows everywhere you go.
You find you're greeting passersby with genuine Hello's,
And sometimes they'll reciprocate as if they too glow,
Like they are vibing with you in that Summer Flow.
On the specialest of Days this multiplies and grows,
Like some secret's got around and everybody Knows.
Because everybody senses that vivacious Summer glow.

2.

As an example I recall a certain memory:
It was a Perfect Day and I was vibing on that energy.
Prospect Park, in Brooklyn, was dancing with activity.
I stood amidst a meadow, surrounded by the synchrony
Of many little characters in their own little lives,
Culture's many dots in a portrait pointillized:
A Hipster tickled his Son, a Fat Man pushed through a run,
Yogis moved to djembe drums, and a dog basked in the sun. 

It was as if The Artist had painted a Perfect Day,
Like George Seurat's "Sunday on La Grande Jatte."
There's something simply Right about a World at Play,
Where the whole Human Drama lifts above the fray.
The meadow felt in perfect balance, like fireflies at night
Who from a frenzied flurry flash together in one light.
Hiding in simplicity is Beauty beyond compare.
We almost always miss it, but it's always right there. ☞

As I took in this Moment, a disabled man came my way.
"Developmentally challenged" I think is what we say.
He bounced on towards me as elated as can be,
Radiating out this innocent giddy.
He beamed me a few words:  "It's a Beautiful Day!"
"Yes it is," I said. And he skipped along his way.
It was the tiniest exchange, but the realest connection,
To meet him in vibration in that Present Dimension.

At my worst I can get swindled into that illusion
That for my wits and intellect I am somehow more "human."
This man and me are given different looks by our society.
I, with my "intelligence," am privileged to its niceties.
He we can't make "sense" of, so we offer him our pity,
As if our hard-scrubbed Vanity will keep our conscience pretty.
But this charade falls away and the walls come down
In that lifting of the lid of the Here and Now.

3.

We all share in this secret, yet we all forget we Know.
But on the Best of Days you may feel it start to grow.
Rising from the Earth it thus blossoms to bestow
A reminding spark of Radiance which sets the world aglow.

There is something sacred in a Perfect Day of Summer,
When Man lets luminosity and timeless Beauty govern.
It takes hold of his consciousness and Life feels rediscovered,
And just for that brief Moment, Paradise is uncovered.

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This story took place in a meadow near the southern end of Prospect Park. I've had a number of sublime experiences in this very spot, and I believe there's a special magic there.

An hour after this story occurred I came upon a tribe of Rastamen in a densely forested hill overlooking the field. One of them told me that they protect the spiritual energy of this meadow, ensuring it remains pure. "Good vibes only," he told me.

Until next time, enjoy the magic of Summer. 

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