On our summer lawn you lie curved
Like a snake warming in the sun,
When I turn on the spigot at mid-day
How hot your water does run!

Sometimes you're hooked to a sprinkler,
Where the kids ran when they were small--
We wonder: where did the time go?
And just can't remember at all.

When the grass got dry and turned brown
You bathed the front lawn with your dew,
Your hundred feet reached the garden
Out back where the vegetables grew.

One day, the lawn mower gashed you--
You leaked--we thought you were gone,
But surgically I repaired you--
Good as new, though not quite so long.

Now the summer draws to an end,
And I bring you in from the cold
To your special place under the work bench,
To store you in neat coils rolled.

I pray as I wind you in autumn
The dark winter we will survive;
In fall I'm already yearning
For springtime to come back alive:

To water our plants on the north side
And feed the cedar hedgerow
To wash winter sand from the driveway
Left by the last melting snow.

So sleep well companion of years,
In your circle there on the floor,
May the freezing days pass us by quickly;
May we join you for one summer more.