Philosophy in Warm Weather

(The Open Window by Pierre Bonnard,
1867-1947, French painter)

(August is the last full month of summer. It is still vacation time. We can linger to enjoy the birds, the bees, the flowers, the trees, all at their peak. We can also pause and meditate a little on the less material fruits of life.)

“Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, / Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer,” sang Nat “King” Cole (1919-1965).

PHILOSOPHY IN WARM WEATHER

Now all the doors and windows
are open, and we move so easily
through the rooms. Cats roll
on the sunny rugs, and a clumsy wasp
climbs the pane, pausing
to rub a leg over her head.

All around physical life reconvenes.
The molecules of our bodies must love
to exist: they whirl in circles
and seem to begrudge us nothing.
Heat, Horatio, heat makes them
put this antic disposition on!

This year’s brown spider
sways over the door as I come
and go. A single poppy shouts
from the far field, and the crow,
beyond alarm, goes right on
pulling up the corn.

~ Jane Kenyon (1947-1995), American poet