A quaint feeling about the summer, nestling under me as it whispers the ethereality of time that I can embrace now. Here, on the corner of the sofa in my family’s living room during mid-summer, it’s now quarter past one o’clock in the morning, and I hear nothing but the hands of the clock slowly ticking. I feel that time goes languid as I breathe deeply while cupping a warm glass of chamomile tea in my hands. Summer feels like love brushing into me in these small moments – gentle and unhurried, allowing longing to exist as it is, as we cherish the notion of peace.
Summer is a warm embrace as the days go longer, reminding us to retreat into the reflective, silent nights. It’s the feeling of waking up in the morning, beside someone you love, having the urge to stay in bed longer because the days feel a bit slower during the summer. Summer brings love’s embrace, the longing in our days where moments slipping past me, fleeting as you notice you no longer have that moment again, and yet summer is also the reminder of contentment that coexists with it — being here, existing, in the “now” because summer reminds me that I still have time to hit restart. It’s the gentleness of summer where I can live a little bit more without the pressure to be someone or something for a moment in this world, merciful and gracious at the same time. It feels almost like how Kalpesh Dasai says in his poem, Love’s Embrace,
May these words find you,
Nestled in love’s gentle hue.
May these hours in between
I missing you and you waking,
Be filled with knowing that you will be nestled in arms strong.
Cherishing you, with forever’s embrace,
Through those times
When moments are long,
And we pine to see each other’s face
-Love’s Embrace / Kalpesh Dasai
The simplicity of how this poem is written, peaceful and safe, add to the reasons we can live for as it fuels our souls. To love unhurried and unselfish, as if we no longer thrive in the moments we forcefully fit in the small amount of time we have because we now hold the privilege of having more and wanting more of what we have. Summer doesn’t make it impossible to experience. We no longer care, for a moment, if time moves slow, it only ever means that we notice things more presently — how the weather feels hot in our foreheads, the water dripping around the melting ice in our coffees, the late night solace of planning out date nights with friends, families or a partner in the warm floor of the living room, and the long list of hobbies we seem to have the energy to get back to. It is through the summer time, when moments are long, we can attach ourselves to things that can bring more rest and joy in the time we hold, may it be occupying only a portion of our days. We can hold on a little tighter to the glimpses of spontaneity while embracing mundanity even more, as if we have a cozy, fresh start. Summer is another version of “new year,” anyway, except that we no longer set new goals but return to it instead, an opportunity to check up on ourselves and love it a little better each day.
Summer values what we hold in the present as we appreciate simplicity more than anything, maybe even for once, in summer’s warm embrace.