invincible summer

autumn's cold hands
creep slowly into my soul
the touch of her gnarled algid fingers

makes me close my eyes and endure
she's searching groping poking blindly
trying to find it
she's after my treasure

I hold my breath lock my thoughts keep quiet
I won't give in nor give up
I'll defy it
I hid my invincible summer
in a secret place down the hill
she can't find it
she won't take it with her unloving hands
of a distant step-mother
she won't pull it out from my heart
with her cruelty of an invader
she will never spirit it away

I can feel her nursing a grudge
getting aggravated losing her temper
as she laughs into my face
with her stingy wind gusts
as she throws her spite to my feet
with her dried brown leaves and sand

I won't bend
I won't lower my eyes and
I will never give in

I hold my invincible summer
where she will never find it
I keep it in the garden of my heart
the dark quiet corner at the end of an alley
in the shadows of fragrant and murmuring
crowns of linden trees
behind a woven fence
entwined with ivy and vine
here it is safe and sound
all year round
my invincible summer
my treasure unfound
forever
invincible summer

Sid Saturnicki, 03102022