It were the summers of ‘91 through ‘05,

When before I’d felt but silence of lonesome.

And then she came along and it felt so alive,

For every year then I’d feel her cure my boredom.

The year was ‘91, and too was the air.

We’d share your pool and swim as a pair.

We made boats of paper to sail to the dark lair,

But I only grumbled as the paper began to tear.

You laughed so loud, and I couldn’t comprehend;

Why at our fail you laughed, I didn’t understand.

Your teeth were bright in your smile,

And I never understood for quite a while.

The year was ‘97, too was my elder.

This was the year she passed,

The year my heart was tender.

Yet the help your comfort gave me felt so vast.

You made me little pies,

And lemons decorated the top.

I thought a tasty lemon treat could only be lies,

But when I took my bite, I’ll admit: not a flop.

You laughed again when I looked so confused,

how the flavor of lemon could make me amused.

Your answer that day still ring in my mind:

“Even the most sour of fruit can be made kind.”

I too had been so sour all those years from ache,

Before you, dear Summer, showed me new day.

You’d come and visit every summer break,

And teach me how to see things a new way.

The year was ‘05, the last you were alive.

I remember that day for the break you’d arrive.

But when I saw your smile, it looked so blue.

Your hair seemed less, more but a few.

“I’ll shine my lemony light for as long as I can,”

Your painful words, I wasn’t even yet a man.

We treated each day together as it were our last,

Because time ran short, the present to past.

It was the last of August in ‘05,

You lied upon your ghostly white bed.

This time it was I who had to make the drive,

For by now you could barely lift your head.

“Tell me, my beloved sour fruit,

Did I teach you warmth by being to you kind?”

I wept so hard, your words like a fading lute.

I knew this talk would be the last you left behind.

“Even the most sour of fruit has made to be kind,

As it’s now baked in the warmth of your mind.”

I had hoped my answer would say enough,

That you turned my heart soft from the rough.

Tears dropped down like the lemons from a tree,

All falling down as they came from me.

You smiled your last as your final breath left,

Finally your life cancer had fully theft.

I kissed your head where your bangs once blew,

Before I left behind “goodbye, I love you.”