Summer Begins To End
With yesterday’s summer solstice marking the year’s longest day you are now once again closer to winter than you are farther away. The ever-lengthening afternoons from which you even hours ago drew such delight are now a thing of your past, the period of brightness imperceptibly but inexorably declining as each evening comes on slightly earlier than the one before until suddenly, like all your hopes and dreams, the summer is over and you’re left alone in the cold. The oppressive heat and persistent sweat and unavoidable reek of urine may trick you into thinking, especially as August comes round with its terrible intensity, that the sun cannot be defeated, but this is a temporary delusion brought on by the fetid soup in which we all slowly swim. Do not be fooled. The darkness always wins. Winter is coming. Winter is almost here. Enjoy what light you have left, it won’t last. The days will become shorter. Your days will become shorter. All things become shorter. What’s next for you is winter. Forever.