One XI

11 of 12 in the ’12 months V’ series from Jemverse

With 'Dog Days' just beginning
July the first is here
for long hot days of summer
the ones I most revere
A child of summer born and bred
these are the days for me
getting browner in the sunshine
on the beach beside the sea

©Jemverse

Photo – Sally Croucher

[The ‘dog days of summer’ are historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system ‘Sirius’ (known colloquially as the ‘dog star’). Hellenistic astrology connected Sirius with heat and the Greeks knew it as ‘scorcher’, a derivative transcription of the Egyptian word ‘spdt’].

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That lavender time again VI

Every year my lavender
features on this day
The twenty-third of each July
no matter, come what may

For this as each year passes
is that lavender time again
celebrating harvest time
from sunshine and the rain

And culminating in
this fragrance so divine
which comes from all the lavender
I pick around this time

©Jemverse

Photo – one of my 2021 lavender harvests in my Sussex Trug – Jempics

‘That lavender time again’ is a theme recurring on an annual basis when, on 23rd July, I publish a new poem in the series. Here are trackbacks to the previous outings – (2020), (2019), (2018), (2017) & (2016)

Beginning XI

11 of 12 in the Jemverse ’12 months IV’ series

July the first and summer continues
warming up just a tad I presume
Cos with May the rain
in bucketloads came
which continued cool into June

So I'm trusting July will show us the summer
and the heat that all of us need
Cos we can't go abroad
a call Covid called
so we need a good summer indeed

July the first promise, you know you can do it
it's not really that much to ask
so do the right thing
and make our hearts sing
by proving you are up to the task

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics

First XI

11 of 12 in the Jemverse ’12 months III’ series

We’re half way through the summer
but I hope it won’t go soon
as now it is first of July
and fades the month of June
The sun at least has been a friend
for weeks now it appears
helping to dispel the dread
that grows from Covid’s fears

So I really hope the summer
stays with us for a good while
as it warms the cockles of our hearts
and certainly brings a smile
And yes the social distancing
on the beaches is a thing
but who can really blame them
when the sunshine has a fling

It seems as though the summer
is being good on purpose here
keeping up our spirits
now we’re at this time of year
So as July kicks off today
I hope the sunshine stays
keeping up appearances
to brighen up our days

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics

July

11 of 12 in the Jemverse series ’12 months II’

In seventy-nine
Forty Julys back
two kindred spirits wed
A fledgling love
grown stronger since
and deeper it’s been said

So this series
now at eleven
to my soulmate here I give
These simple words
true from my heart
for the life we share and live

©Jemverse

Jem & Sal on their wedding day: 7 July 1979 [photo – James Newbold]

Twelve months seven

No. 12 of 12 in the Jemverse “Twelve months” series

Delphinium Larkspur
climbs to the sky
in the bright sun
on the first of July

The seventh birth flower
its colour just glows
hiding the secret
that only it knows

Suffice here to say
that its beauty transcends
this series of twelve
which is now at its end

©Jemverse

This is 12 in a series of 12 poems written for and published on the 1st of every month for a year. See also Twelve Months Eight, Twelve Months Nine, Twelve Months Ten, Twelve Months Eleven , Twelve Months Twelve , Twelve Months One,  Twelve Months Two , Twelve Months Three, Twelve Months Four , Twelve Months Five and Twelve Months Six.

Dusk

©Jemverse