For Mothers Everywhere

Summer is all about sweet homecomings 

and the inevitable leave-takings 

that follow.  

There's a heap of living in between 

as summer wraps her long lazy arms 

around our shoulders

 and holds on 

until she can hold on no longer. 

Then it's time to send them
 packing back to college
with a hug and a kiss
and heart full of prayers,
knowing that the waves
of melancholy will rush in uninvited and
                                                                             depart as quickly as they came.