Images of summer are all around us now. And many great writers have shared their images of summer with the world. Read on…

“In those vernal seasons of the year, when the air is calm and pleasant, it were an injury and sullenest against Natre not to go out and see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing with heaven and earth.” – John Milton, Tractate of Education

“Summer afternoon – summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James, as quoted in A Backward Glance by Edith Wharton

“How sweet I roamed from field to field, And tasted all the summer’s pride.” – William Blake, “Song”

“At midnight in the month of June, I stand beneath the mystic moon…” – Edgar Allan Poe, “The Sleeper”

“Each time I look up one of the secretive little side canyons I half expect to see not only the cottonwood tree over its tiny spring – the leafy god, the desert’s liquid eye – but also a rainbow-colored corona of blazing light, pure spirit, pure being, pure disembodied intelligence about to speak my name. If a man’s imagination were not so weak, so easily tired, if his capacity for wonder not so limited, he would abandon forever such fantasies of the supernal. He would learn to perceive in water, leaves and silence more than sufficient of the absolute and marvelous, more than enough to console him for the loss of the ancient dream.” – Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

“What happened, what we think happened in distant memory, is built around a small collection of dominating images. In one of my own from the age of seven, I stand in the shallows of Paradise Beach, staring down at a huge jellyfish in water so still and clear that its every detail is revealed as though it were trapped in glass.” – Edward O. Wilson, Naturalist

What images do you have of summer? Here are mine:

Swimming pools, lakes, oceans, beaches, salt water, kayaking, hiking through forests, driving vacations, islands, cruises, national parks, state parks, grandparents, climbing trees, watching the stars, picnics, ice cream, watermelon, hot dogs, popsicles, lemonade, going barefoot, sunburns, sunglasses, peeling skin, shell hunting, fishing, water skiing, jet skiing, tubing, floating the river, drinking beer, watching the sunrise, watching the sunset, thunderstorms, sidewalks shimmering with heat, burning bare feet, shorts, swimsuits, ponytails, chlorine, frogs, mosquitoes, turtles, cloud watching, picking tomatoes, shelling peas, bats, worms, flower blooms, butterflies, honey bees, bumble bees . . 

Make your own list this week.