Text, narration & production © 2021 C. Kurtz.
Musical accompaniment: John Dowland, “Fantasie no. 1.”
Summer and Winter, they were wed
and tried to share a home and bed;
but Winter often was too cold
and Summer proved too hot to hold.
Winter wears a snowy beard
while Summer looks best unveneered;
the seasons shift from left to right
and permutate as day and night.
Summer is known for her youth
while Winter is long in the tooth;
they can’t decide what time of day
their kids Autumn and Spring should play.
Winter’s often fast asleep
while Summer likes to frisk and leap;
although these two exchanged an oath,
it’s rare to visit with them both.
Summer favors longer days
while Winter is set in his ways;
it owes to how the planet tends
that one begins as other ends.
It was a lovely honeymoon
but weather fronts can quickly swoon;
the forecast rarely stays the same
yet mother nature’s not to blame.
They had the honey and the money
but climates aren’t always sunny;
it seemed a perfect partnership
but they did not make it round trip.
What Summer wants and Winter needs
are often diff’rent, time concedes;
and ‘tho they loved each other well
‘tis true they can’t unring the bell.
We hear the birds, the season’s new —
the coldest temperatures withdrew;
both north and south must play their parts
and nature brooks no broken hearts.
Perhaps it’s better not to love —
some things we have to let go of;
and ev’ry season has to learn
the world revolves without concern.
To have and to hold from this day forward ; for better, for worse ; for richer, for poorer ; in sickness and in health ; to love and to cherish, till death us do part.
An earlier version entitled “Summer and Winter” originally published by Pacific Review fall 2021.