Solstice

i
Darkness cool and short
relieves the solstice heat
while the earth stealthily slips
around toward winter.

ii
Dogs darken barks
at sight of shadows & eclipses
but dance high, with wild glee
when they see glinting waves.

iii
Tree bark peels away
only to display colors
beyond gray, brown,
or black imagining.

iv
Peeling my eyes open
though sticky closed they’d be
gives me ways to see this world
unravel from my dreams.

v
Summer opens as its end
starts—long day toward
long night—without noticing
cold harmony under hot melody.