As Imperceptibly as Grief

Summer is over. Our afternoons are still warm here in central Illinois, but the mornings have been chilly. The kids are all back in school, and there’s a scattering of yellow leaves in our backyard. Soon we’ll be donning heavy coats, hats, and gloves. I wish I felt ready for the change.

Like so many other periods of our lives, summer tends to sneak quietly away from us, making its exit so surreptitiously that it’s gone before we realize we’ve missed the chance to savor the last moments of its visit.

Emily Dickinson understood just what I mean. In this poem, I find a gentle reminder to savor what is with us now, before it steals away.

As Imperceptibly as Grief

by Emily Dickinson

As imperceptibly as grief
The summer lapsed away, —
Too imperceptible, at last,
To seem like perfidy.
A quietness distilled,
As twilight long begun,
Or Nature, spending with herself
Sequestered afternoon.
The dusk drew earlier in,
The morning foreign shone, —
A courteous, yet harrowing grace,
As guest who would be gone.

And thus, without a wing,
Or service of a keel,
Our summer made her light escape
Into the beautiful.