Thistles at Midsummer

a poem

Many of you will have seen reports on the Midsummer’s solar eclipse seen in east Asia. It seemed quite a contrast to go out and view the sky and hillside here, where it was a very quiet transition to summer.

Thistles at Midsummer

Somewhere beyond the many seas, the sun
Was ring of fire round a mighty moon;
But here the bright midsummer’s just begun.
The sun shone simply amid skies of June;
The blue skies played at tag with thunderheads
Until the blue won out; meantime the brash
Refulgent pink of thistles held their heads
Aloft on stalks as tall as I, to stash
The pantries of the goldfinch and supply
A sip to many a swallowtail: the gold
Of tiny bird and broad-winged butterfly
Near-brazen on the blossoms' pink, its bold
Green foliage arabesqued with spines.
Nearby Queen Anne's lace lifts a froth
Of white, its display elegantly fine,
Its frippery for June a dainty cloth
Spread out atop the meadow on a day
Of silence on the solitary hill.
I hear a redbird chatter on its way
From wire to tree; all else today is still.