Summer

Sterquilinium

Like a dim reflection
of warm childhood days
reveling in sunlight
unencumbered by freedom

All that's the same
is it shares the same name
warmth lost to sweltering heat
running on long-tired feet
Summer's romance
one fleeting chance
to walk through now echoing streets

And when summer's over
again comes the winter
driving a nail
in the coffin of childhood

And we face the year
with bleak expectations
longing once more
for summer's dim memories.