Summer arrived on cat's feet

Summer arrived on cat's feet
Spring had already overflowed its banks
and Summer merely crested
carrying trees and stirring the silt

whether it also had nine lives
I'm not sure
but even after an early frost
and leaf drop

the humidity returned
a few times
so that's got to be
a few lives right there
but who's counting
and it's too early yet
for an Indian Summer
but then there's
the phenomenon of false Fall to consider
a near cousin to a false Spring

and when it got cold again

the squirrels shivered

their acorns so many diamonds

as they sang

Well I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full

And you happened to call

a sure sign was probably

the tomatoes whose stalks

had browned

but the garden still produced pumpkins

and there were a few cucumbers still

so all was well

and all will be well

until the cold takes Summer's last life

and we descend into Arctic hell.