la dernière fleur de l'été

Even summer says goodbye. The days are getting shorter, the nights, cooler. One last night of the waning harvest moon. The grass is growing more slowly. The dogwood has changed and is shedding. Soon, all the trees will be bare and the grass brown. But not yet. This evening as I came down the driveway, I noticed the last hangers-on. A glowing gather of pink, and just below it a beleaguered black-eyed-susan. All Susan's friends had dried up and fallen, but she, with three-quarters of her petals still intact, was hanging on, unwilling to be forgotten.

Tonight, the cloudy sky kept the warmth on the ground and provided a comfy late summer evening. Then suddenly, the clouds cleared out, the stars shone, and the air quickly turned to early autumn.
So thank you old man summer, for the last wave, the last tip of the baseball cap.
Adieu.