Sh!
Quiet down.
Do you hear it?
It’s not loud
so listen carefully
and you might be able to hear
the last ice cream truck leaving town.

I’ve heard it before
in different years.
For a while
I could never identify that important transition,
never recognized that unscheduled occasion.
But eventually
I grew older
wiser and thinner
and I learned to take my frozen pleasures
while I could.

Now I know.
Now I listen.
Now I anticipate.
Now
I can tell
by the weather and date,
and humidity and the turn of the trees
I can see
it’s the time of the season for leaving
as Mister Freezey rolls away
until the cycle rolls around again.