Summers Lost

When did summer become just another season?
Once a time of sweet anticipation,
Populated with endless possibility—
Freedom, adventure, new love, escape.
Warm nights, hot girls, cold beer,
Accompanied by a Beach Boys soundtrack.
Peeling off my shirt to feel the sun on my back,
During sweaty afternoons of manual labor.
Shedding the rest late at night
At a lake, where fun in the water
Had nothing to do with swimming.
And even in late August,
When the dread of a new school year
Hung heavily in the air,
Like the humidity of high expectations,
There was the comfortable certainty
That there would always be another summer.
But I closed my eyes for a moment
And woke up to the voice of my wife
Reminding me to use sun block.
Now I complain to my neighbor about the heat
And seek solace in the cool days of autumn.