Summer is almost over.
School will be starting soon.
Schedules and routines will begin
to carve away at time and energies.
The seasons will begin their shifting.
It's still July,
but I can already see
a few yellow leaves under the maples.
(Hopefully these are a harbinger
of a colorful fall, and not
a sign of impending drought.)
Before we know it,
we will wonder where
all the leaves went,
and The Dreaded Daylight Savings Time
will arrive,
plunging those of us who toil
deep in the windowless bowels
of lecture rooms,
cramped impromptu conference areas,
and ergonomically-challenged office spaces
designed by sadists
vehemently opposed to the concept of feng shui,
to commutes in utter darkness.
(This is the part
where you may join,
with the marching goblins
of the Wicked Witch of Western Oz,
in singing, "Ohh-wee-ohh, o-waaaay-ohh!"
The lament of teachers
and schoolchildren across the country
rises into the stifling summer sky,
mixed with the sobs of bus-drivers,
cooks, janitors
and an occasional part-time ice cream truck operator.
This mournful chorus is counterbalanced
by the long, grateful sighs of soon-to-be-liberated mothers, grandparents, babysitters and
(rare-as-hens-teeth) househusbands.
It is an annual call-and-response.
(This where you may insert
the gleeful caregivers as they parody
Snow Whites' dwarves in singing,
"Heigh, ho! Heigh ho! It's off to school they go...")
Soon most households will push the young
out of the nest,
if even for a few blessed hours.
Cats will nap peacefully.
Any doors remaining on their hinges
will remain closed.
Dust will settle.
To the goblin horde,
duty calls.
To the rest of you,
enjoy for now.
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