Summer: Birch Mountain

By John Muro

PROMPT—Never will I forget ...

For Steve and Susan

In the high blue of day, I find myself

companionless, walking past the abandoned farm

and its haunting ruin evoking a time

when the three of us sat upon a flatbed

wedged between hay bales and the tractor’s

shoulder-high wheels, passing low stone walls

furred with moss on our way to the upper fields

where the fleeting light encroached upon –

and slowly thickened over – a windfall of green

as we feigned work harvesting vegetables

while morning eased itself away from dawn

in a slow diminishing and yet how little

we actually knew of loss or for that matter

any lives or sorrows beyond our own,

spending each day beneath rolling hills

where morning mists sometimes smeared

and softened the lower slopes as if everything beyond

our line of sight was being banished or erased

and I confess to being lost so many times

since then and I’m no more certain how best

to make my way in this world as days quicken

and I’m unable to slow the world’s hurry

while I ruefully recall a time when so little

had been taken from me and the most pressing

concerns were finding water, a pair of gloves

and a shady place to hide.

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John Muro has authored three books of poems, including his most recent collection "A Bountiful Silence" (2025). His professional career has been dedicated to conservation and environmental stewardship, and nature remains a principal source of inspiration for his work. John is a four-time Pushcart nominee, a three-time Best of the Net nominee, and a recipient of several literary awards. His work has appeared in Acumen, Belfast Review, Connecticut River, Cool Beans Lit, Journal of Expressive Writing, Sky Island, and elsewhere. John writes from Glastonbury, Connecticut.