“The
summer smiles, the summer knows
And
unashamed, she sheds her clothes
The
summer smooths the restless sky
And
lovingly she warms the sand on which you lie
The
summer knows, the summer’s wise
She
sees the doubts within your eyes
And
so she takes her summer time
Tells
the moon to wait and the sun to linger
Twists
the world ‘round her summer finger
Lets
you see the wonder of her arm?
And
if you’ve learned your lesson well
There’s
little more for her to tell
One
last caress, it’s time to dress for fall …”
~ “The Summer Knows”
~ Michel Legrand
~ 1932-2019
~ theme from the 1971 film “Summer of '42”
Only
the summer knows what the hot and humid breeze is whispering through the trees
and summer grasses in this sepia capture of the Bobolink Trail, just off the
Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail), I shot in the
early evening in late July at Lehigh Gap.
In the shadow of the Kittatinny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain, the Lehigh
Gap in Slatington, Pennsylvania, is a crossroads where the Lehigh Gap Nature
Center’s trails connect two historic trails – the Appalachian Trail and D&L
Trail.
The Bobolink Trail connects the D&L Trail with the Lehigh
and New England (LNE) Trail about 1.2 miles north and west of the Osprey House
at Lehigh Gap Nature Center. It is named for the Bobolink, a representative of
the migrant grassland bird species that Lehigh Gap Nature Center hopes to
attract to the refuge’s re-vegetated prairie grasslands.
The
Appalachian Trail, a foot path, follows the ridge on both sides of the Lehigh
Gap, running 1,245 miles south to Georgia and 930 miles north to Maine. Running
from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and
Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.