The first day of summer in the northern hemisphere - on this day, the sun reaches its most northerly position in relation to the earth: twenty- three degrees, twenty-seven minutes north latitude—the Tropic of Cancer. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, today will be the longest day of the year and tonight will be the shortest. the sky cried heavy today and the earth grew drunk as the deluge continued to seep into its pores I wondered why the heavens wept with summer at its door I thought maybe the angels grew weary of watching, the oaks became thirsty, their brown flesh still dry from harsh winter winds maybe the ozone was shifting, plateaus and barrier reefs spreading their arms, hugging new earth midwestern states grew lush, tropics and rainforest sprouting on the banks of new lakes, emerald forests emerging from pockets of deep earth even the worms felt like drowning, their plump bodies writhing, scuttling for dry land twenty three degrees of sun without warmth, pacing behind the hindrance of charcoal dark clouds, and only the night will remember the soft breeze from the north