![Sunflowers in bloom.](https://www.deborahleeluskin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sunflowers2015_0902-225x300.jpg)
At Summer’s End
Last Saturday
summer evening
soft light and
softer air:
perfect
party.
Two friends
celebrating
one hundred twenty
years
more than half
together
a hundred guests.
![The cucumbers keep coming!](https://www.deborahleeluskin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/hiding-cucumber-300x225.jpg)
Potluck, of course
I brought what was on hand:
(still!)
dressed (yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, dill)
![Ripening tomatoes on the vine - another mark of summer coming to an end.](https://www.deborahleeluskin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/tomatoes-on-the-vine-300x287.jpg)
crowded onto the buffet
near a tent
a band played.
Everyone I knew
populated tables, chairs;
perched on stones, walls
![The perfect backdrop for a summer party: tent, buffet table, lawn.](https://www.deborahleeluskin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/party-tent-300x272.jpg)
settled
on the grass
in clusters
threes and fours
talking
face-to-face:
Conversation.
A woman back from LA,
“The sirens!”
“And the lights –
it’s never dark!”
I know.
If I have to leave
I bring earplugs, eye-shades.
“I like the sounds of night.”
We agreed.
![A giant ball of light. "The moon!"](https://www.deborahleeluskin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/full-moon-877914_640-300x234.jpg)
“The moon!”
The evening faded
Someone lit a fire in the grass
a giant ball of light rose
in my throat,
“The moon!”
Later,
My headlights tunneled
the blue velvet.
In the dark house
an owl called,
and coyotes answered.
![Deborah Lee Luskin waxes poetic in Summer's End.](https://www.deborahleeluskin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Deb_hiking-.jpg)
Author, blogger, educator and editor Deborah Lee Luskin often waxes poetic in prose; the evening described herein called out for the compression of verse.