Summer

They say there's fewer sounds sweeter than the tone of children's laughter

It captures men's hearts - proof life ends happily ever after

And at eight years old, in the sunshine, a princess

Held access to the fairy tale to be her sole witness

Hop scotch on the block in the hot Chicago sun

Double Dutch, selling lemonade til the day was done

Summer's world shone bright, despite never knowing her biological

Parents that placed her in a dumpster near the hospital

Nurse Jones raised her right, and did all that was possible

For a woman of sixty-five that had her own life's obstacles

Provided all she could afford, "a Ford" pickup and a tenement

Clean clothes, food, medicine, all bought for Summer's betterment

Hesitant to let her out on the sidewalk alone

For fear of what was on the corner a few steps from home

But seasons change and it seems to have shown

She couldn't protect Summer when she was full grown

Summer breathed Winter in the chasms of her nose

Spring up for passing seconds, Fall down from an overdose

Sixteen, prom queen, pristine, stayed clean

Never mixing with the vagabonds that rolled with dope fiends

But the winds of autumn came, and like the colors that changed

Summer's interests, hobbies, and priorities re-arranged

Peer pressure never phased, but validation was a problem

In order to stay on top she had to go to the bottom

To compromising situations, giving body and soul

For the goal of keeping Nurse Jones warm in the cold

After six months of fighting, Miss Jones moved on

Took a deep breath, winked at Summer, closed her eyes, and was gone

And Summer tried to stay strong, stayed in school, fixed her focus

But unpaid bills culminated to an eviction notice

Now homeless and hopeless, wandered - darkness on the streets

Looking desperate for a job to get her back on her feet

But no one hired a 16-year old dropout with a halo

So she continued the march with the other broken-winged angels

Summer breathed Winter in the chasms of her nose

Spring up for passing seconds, Fall down from an overdose

Now Summer's slowly dying - see Summer's soul was trying

To break out of the bonds, become a sun again, shining

21, collapsed veins, powdered bloody nose, a shattered frame

The remnants of her memories keep her mildly sane

Summer's pastime was passin time by talking to herself

Amidst the heckles of the passers-by , her muffled cries for help

Fell onto deaf ears, out of the mouth of babes

Came the echoed only, lonely cries no one wanted to save

Though Summer's stomach showed no signs of having amniotic fluid

Third trimester rolled around, and through it all she was clueless

Until she woke up in the same hospital she was abandoned

Being told "Push" by doctor's and the voice in her head that demanded

She make it through to see the splinter in the dark

A new start, new purpose, new woman, same heart

And through her next 50 years of life, 'til her eventual death

There was never a sound sweeter than her child's first breath

And the Fall of Summer into Winter's darkest of days

Ended when Summer realized the Spring's sun-rays