On the First Sweltering Night of Summer

I knew the rainy season had ended from the air before I ever read it in the news. The rain that had fallen for days without a break stopped all at once one night, and when I opened the window, a damp, hot wind pushed slowly into the room. I turned on the fan, but the wind only shifted from one spot to another — it didn't go away.

Summer has only barely begun, and yet, strangely, the first thing I thought of was a song about summer ending.

Maybe it's because summer has always worn that kind of face. Even at its hottest, we already know this heat won't last forever. Even at midday, when the cicadas are at their loudest, a quiet sense is laid underneath it all that the sound will soon stop. That's why summer nights are joyful and a little lonely at once. It's a season that has you missing things before they've even slipped from your hands.

The first time I heard this song by JANNABI was also at the end of some summer. The title is already a whole sentence on its own, so my heart leaned toward it before the music even began. It's a voice that doesn't cling for effect, that quietly accepts what has already gone. Love and seasons both pass in the end, and the place they leave behind may not look like much — but I loved how the song feels no shame about that plainness.

Listening to this song tonight, on the first sweltering night, is maybe a little out of order. The heat has only just arrived, and here I am already missing the end of summer. But I think that's how you get summer right. You have to know it ends to feel how special this one night really is.

Outside the window, the smell of rain still hasn't fully faded, and the city lights blur across the humidity. Instead of turning on the air conditioner, I decide to open the window a little wider. The hot wind, the far-off sound of cars — they're all things this season has lent me for a little while.

Summer is only just beginning. So let's take our time with it, saving it all the way to the end. The hot summer nights will pass, and what's left behind won't look like much. And all of it, every last night, is 'Summer'.