“Consulting summer’s clock,
But half the hours remain.
I ascertain it with a shock –
I shall not look again.
The second half of joy
Is shorter than the first.
The truth I do not dare to know
I muffle with a jest.” – Emily Dickinson
It’s the first week of August and the summer of 2009 is quickly passing. For some, it’s passing much too fast while others (ovepove – ditt & datt) would express a wish it was already fall. 
I love fall but since this summer has been rather pleasant I would be happy for it to stay yet a while longer. I’ll not be one to wish any days away.
I sometimes walk the forest path seen in this photo–shown is the view looking from the path into the clearing where it ends.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I love summer, especially early September when we get warm days and cool nights. Can’t never get enough of it!
Steve, I think you normally get cooler nights during the summer then we do here in North Carolina (maybe not during the recent heat wave out there). But I agree with you about loving that combination of warm days and cool nights/mornings. That’s one reason Fall is my favorite season.
Warm days and cooler nights, that’s how our late summer days are here in South Sweden too, but not until late September. In October, when the nights gets cooler than 10C, the fall will start for real and the trees gets all the beautiful colours. Those two months are the best of the year.
I didn’t remember the poem, even though I read a great deal of Ms. Dickinson.
One line hits me particularly. “The second half of joy/Is shorter than the first.”
For that reason, if none other, I am another who cannot afford to wish any days away.
I enjoy the story in the image—the looking toward the clearing and the light.