Eight months pass and you forget.
You know that winter is cold and summer is warm,
that spring and fall are somewhere in between,
but you forget the way the cold makes you feel.
The way you want to flee your own freezing flesh when you’re in it.
The way the cold air slices ruddy cheeks,
and the way snow always seems to find a way into your boot.

After the sun brushes your shoulders,
after cut offs make it back into your top drawer,
after the only perfume you need wear is sunscreen,
You forget.

You forget maybe because you want to forget.
Because you like the way it feels to be warm.
You like the taste of hot dogs on the beach,
and the shade of a Technicolor umbrella.

Maybe you want to forget because the best things happen to you
sitting on the beach rubbing your toes back and forth in the sand,
listening to the waves come in and out and crash on the shore.
You love to hear the song Grandpa and Grandma sing about the ocean.
And jellyfish stings don’t even hurt,
they just remind you that it’s summer and the sun is on your side.
Maybe you love summer.

But when snowflakes finally come back,
to rest on the tips of your eyelashes,
when a warm cup of tea is your very best friend,
when dad comes through the front door with an eight-foot Christmas tree,
and mom buys you a new sweater to keep you warm.
Maybe you remember how much you’ve missed winter.