Old Order Mennonite Memoirs

“Fill your soul, your memory,

With layers and depths and textures

And heights of lush green,

Before the miracle of summer

Fades away once more, as it always does.

“Drink in, absorb every hue and

Shade of green, from pale of mint

To the rich, dark splendor of evergreen forests.

Gaze at fields stretching far,

Like patchwork quilts of emerald,

Their edges stitched by fence-post embroidery.”

In her “Midsummer's Green” poem, Jean A. Davidson has more to say, but I like her first two verses best. I like the thought of filling my soul and my memory with the miracle of summer.

Summer has layers, like...