A Summer Day

In the heart of the summer
the shadows grow longer
and the days stretch like
a cat in the warm sun.
Everything speaks,
everything sings—
the goldfinches wheel in the sky,
flutter and flash,
and the sun spills
in hot fingers over the land.
This is the season
of open windows,
of laughter
that carries in sweetly,
of remembering, of loving,
of being still—
a day
made for dreaming.

• Mary Oliver