Dill weed with flowers

We're past
the dog days of Summer
now
Nature
while still bountiful
is not as profligate
or flagrantly female
as it was
a week ago
warming those
who rub their magic lamps
in the hope
of raising a genie

but don't necessarily knock
at her Durin's Door
but speak friend
and enter nevertheless

pushing the limits
of barely passable propriety

Sirius's return
to the night sky
signaled the annual flooding
of the Nile
and this dog star
tucked in Orion's belt

figured forth
for the Greeks
heat and fevers
enough to make even Achilles pause
in his assault on Troy
and enfeebled others
not so admixed
with bronze as he

parching their heads and knees
and feet
in a way
that even the following rains
failed to salve and balm

in these days
of sun burned lawns
and shriveled flowers
some beauties yet grow
and raise their heads
the sunflower
for instance

holding high its many pocketed
hive of a head
to bees and heat
and other tawdry blessings
commensurate with
or equal to
the turning of the season

besides the sunflower
we find the mallow

to all the world
a dill weed with flowers

tolerating the heat
and even thriving
flourishing
in its wish
to brighten
the night
with a tickle
of the shins
and a stroking
of the hands
of some lunar clock
already losing time
to keep the streets shining
with the last sweat
of the day

meanwhile
in other grumbling hives

the squirrels
take their last stand
against the dwindling
competition of Spring
and the race
to the bottom
of Autumn
as Winter impinges
as they hide
far too many nuts

reminiscent
of ants milling
and putting by
while the crickets strum
banjos
and pick miscellaneous strings

to fulfill La Fontaine's fable
as if they owed him this truth

and somewhere
along the way
I
too
gave my troth
and it was taken
without ceremony
by Sirius
or some lesser star
that brought sun
and rain
plagues
of locusts

and things
exceedingly more mundane.