Yötön Yö*

The fluttering ribbon of blue
outside my window deepens
but holds fast to the birches.

I welcome a thirst for black cherries
bursting over my hands,
blooded with the waiting abundance.

Beyond, in a rhythm I can’t understand
bonfires blaze on the shores,
fed by the dancing wind of wildflowers
as the country eases back
beneath the slow whirl of sky.

* Finnish for nightless night, Juhannus, midsummer