SUMMER

Moments before dawn

Breathe deeply

Take in the heat laden air

filled with the heavy scent of blooming jasmine

In nearby trees cicadas already calling

The air full of their monotone vibrations

A night heron leaves a brief melodic trail as it flies home

Songbirds awake

Get closer to the blooms and hear the buzzing of the bees

already feeding on the flowers' inner sanctum

Still too dark to see their tiny flying forms

Before the sun sets twice

the soft white jasmine petals will leave the branches bare

covering the ground below like a sparse layer of new snow

And the cycle will begin again