The Top of the Summer

“August is that last flicker of fun and heat before everything
fades and dies. The final moments of fun before the freeze.
In the winter, everything changes.” -Rasmeia Massoud, author

I have heard August described as the top of summer, an apt description that summer lovers I am sure cling to. Sylvia Plath, not known for her particularly “sunny ways” said that in August, “the best of the summer (is) gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.” Although I do not adhere to her philosophy that the best of summer is gone, I do agree with her that it can be suitably described as an “odd uneven time.” It is still summer, yet fall seems to be waiting, breathless, around the very next corner. Some fight off the inevitable. I welcome fall.

Yet…I love August, as the remnants of summer are still available to us. There are still festivals and fairs to attend, a few picnics or barbeques if we are lucky, and sandy beach days are not yet behind us. August is a transitional month– its bonfires give us a hint of fall while we can still bask in the warmth of sunshine. Not a particular fan of summer, I am a fan of August. I can take the heat knowing that it will soon be a thing of the past.

August does remind us that time marches on, whether we are ready or not. Crestless Wave (a writer from India, whose real name is Anjit Sharma) says that “August is a gentle reminder for not doing a single thing from your new year resolution(s) for seven months and not doing it for the next five.” Somehow, I find that comforting. Especially since another new year for many of us starts in September. So, we can make new resolutions. And then break them.

I found a lovely poem by Elizabeth Maua Taylor, and it seems to sum up the eighth month quite well–ending on what could be a sad note for some, but a new beginning for all of us:

“August rushes by like desert rainfall
A flood of frenzied upheaval,
Expected,
But still catching me unprepared.
Like a match flame
Bursting on the scene,
Heat and haze of crimson sunsets.
Like a dream
Of moon and dark barely recalled,
A moment,
Shadows caught in a blink.
Like a quick kiss;
One wishes for more
But it suddenly turns to leave,
Dragging summer away.”

The month of August will fly by, especially for kids returning to school. But let us enjoy the “heat and haze of crimson sunsets”; the last vestiges of freedom; and the (supposedly) carefree days of sun and surf.

I am not sure how Canadians rank August, but I suspect we like it a bit better than our American counterparts. According to a Washington Post survey (from an article written by Randy McDaniel who likes August best because it is his birthday month) August comes in 9th. Their favorite month is May followed by October (my personal favourite), December, July, April (also my favourite as it is my birth month) September, November, August, March, January and February.

Let us enjoy this month before it “rushes by like desert rainfall.”