Summer's End

Once meant dread.
Of a new school,
Up front, teacher’s
Hand on my head,
Causing a shudder,
Stammering my name
To a pack of strangers.

Walking home in
A new sweater set,
Wool skirt, too warm
For September sun
As mother warned.

Finale of a summer love,
A boy from out of town
Visiting his grandmother,
Who left with my address,
Never to be heard from.

Relief when my children
Who’d gotten quarrelsome
Went back to school.
Later, back to college,
House to ourselves again.

Then, time to get ready
For winter in southern sun.

Last year, a life together gone.

This year, a winter alone.