image from here
Moth whispers brush the bedside lamp.
Summer’s here, with nightly fear
of fluttering, biting, stinging things.
Tossing, turning, sweating, burning
from daily overdose of sun.
Moth-wings tapping at lighted windows,
starlit nights with yearning filled.
Through winter’s dark she’d longed for summer,
sleeveless frocks and sun-browned limbs.
Freedom, lightness, like the moth-wings
flicker in untroubled youth.
Crept October soon upon her,
dreaming of love by frosty sky.
Autumn chill, moth-wings still.
dVerse Poetics prompt today is all about the dog days of summer. Seasons are a common theme in my poetry, and I’m running out of new ideas. This one, a quasi sonnet, is at least six years old!
Vivinfrance's Blog 
Brilliant words
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This one definitely captures the sentiment of restless summer night…great one, Viv!
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Fun — always hoping for the next season
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Very nice. My favourite line…”Through winter’s dark she’d longed for summer,
sleeveless frocks and sun-browned limbs.”
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Moths sing wings of Summer dreams..
Wings of Moth flutter nervously
Without fright.. Dreams of Summer
Never wait in realiTy of Wings
IN Moth’s Song and Dance
IN Air of fLight..:)
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Great idea–to focus in on those moths–they really are so representative of the summer heat.
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You need to brag more, V:
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Thanks Ron – I didn’t even know it was up there!
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“moth-wings
flicker in untroubled youth.” Love this – the reference to Moths really worked in your piece.
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I love that this is a “quasi-sonnet”, & that even though there are those who warn of too many gerunds, how lovely to witness your rebellious side. As you noted, my piece exceeded 25 lines, but then I rail against form parameters regularly, & try to prepare my poem before the pub opens, so sometimes I get off into red herring land.
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Herrings are tasty, nourishing fish!
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I am not too keen on insects and am thus grateful for screens on windows and doors. I agree that the use of gerunds adds to the meaning and conveys the beating of the wings very efficiently.
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This was worth reviving. The closing lines are particularly powerful.
Removing the gerunds would be resulting in this working nowhere nearly as well. 🙂
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🙂
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nice… love to watch the moths in a hot summer night… and need some more of those because i wanna start thinking about the autumn chills…oy
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Aaaah, that’s my pet hate about summer – the insects! They seem to feast on me! And on you too, by the sounds of it.
I love your multitude of verbs in -ing forms. I’ve been told to avoid using too many of them in a row in poetry (I like using them to), but here I think it adds to that feeling of ‘piling on’ of suffering…
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I was taught the same thing: avoid gerunds but I was always a rebel!
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I like the moth-wings tapping the windows but not the daily overdose of the sun ~ Sad though that come autumn chill, their wings are still ~
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Such a wonderful combination of images – soft moth whispers, stinging biting things, sun brown limbs, cold October…..many layers to this one. On the surface about nature yearly seasons, deeper down – life seasons. Dreams free in youth, stilling later in life. Did you re-work this any or did you leave it as it was? I will take older poems and sometimes, “update” them or do some small changes. This is a very nice take on the dog days.
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My poems are never finished! I always seem to be tweaking a word here or a comma there.
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I know that feeling. I do the same.
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You have really captured a ‘dog day’ moment in this poem, Viv. The beating of moth wings produce summer tunes! And indeed…in October they are heard no more!
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Lovely, Viv – one of my favourites.
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