( CNN ) -- I 've never liked the end of summer , with the days already growing shorter , with a handful of trees ( in Vermont , where I live ) beginning to turn red , with my stomach fluttering as I begin to think about the busyness and complications of the fall . Ever since I was a little boy , I 've thought to myself : Ca n't it stay summer forever ? So what is it , exactly , that seems so wonderful about summer , and makes us so terribly regret its passing ? In a climate where four seasons are sharply distinct , it 's mostly about the long and lazy days when you can get up early , sit under a tree with a mug of coffee to watch the sun rise , or wander into the garden in bare feet . It 's about warm and green-leaved surroundings , and the aura of infinite time . This timelessness may be , of course , an illusion , but there 's no doubt that the pressures of everyday life , in summer , seem less pressing . Even the night takes on a special quality in summer , with the crickets playing on their little musical instruments underneath the bedroom window as breezes push through the screens , offering a form of natural air conditioning . I 've even noticed that in summer dreams seem especially vivid , as if the membrane between sleeping and waking were somehow permeable . It 's not for nothing that we associate summer with childhood , as most children like nothing better than the last minute of the last day of the school year , when the bell rings and they are set free for two or three months , to run wild in the neighborhood , ride bikes , swim , play games . None of that boring stuff , such as reading and writing and arithmetic . Long after our lives are governed by school bells and academic calendars , there is still a feeling of relief when the cold and slantwise rains of spring stop , when we can sit on the steps outside and feel the sun on our faces . In June , the summer stretches before us , tantalizing , full of possibilities . We somehow believe it will continue forever as we walk beside dusty country roads , seeing the corn `` knee high at the Fourth of July . '' But the corn grows tall , ripening as the days shorten . August arrives too soon , and time rushes to the brink of autumn -- what Robert Frost in his memorable poem called `` The Ovenbird '' refers to as that `` other fall we name the fall . '' Is this the Fall of Man that he alludes to in this ominous way ? Frost tells us that the bird frames for us the essential question that everyone faces at the end of summer : `` What to make of a diminished thing ? '' Our summer garden , like Eden , ca n't stay put . It 's impossible to sustain the idleness , the hopefulness , the sense of endless options that summer affords , however briefly . We begin to hear the waterfall in the distance as the stream quickens , gliding over the rocks . Too easily we imagine the dying leaves of autumn , the icy winds , a feeling that once again we have entered the stream of life in a big way . Responsibilities begin to weigh . On the other hand , we also like the fall , do n't we ? There 's a quickening of life as we gather our wits and launch again into life , full tilt . The pleasures of autumn , even its melancholy overtones , have also attracted a fair share of poets . But summer is summer , and it 's not easily replaced . As Labor Day arrives , with its last gasp of summery pleasures -- picnics and boat rides , family reunions , a table groaning with the best that gardens can offer -- I ca n't help but wish we were at the beginning , not the end , of this loveliest of seasons . I wish it were May , and that we could all join voices with the anonymous medieval English poet , who famously wrote : `` Summer is a-coming in ! / Loud sing , cuckoo ! '' The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jay Parini .
As Labor Day arrives Jay Parini ca n't help but wish summer were n't ending . Parini : What is so wonderful about summer and makes us regret its passing ? He says it 's not for nothing that we associate summer with childhood play . Parini : The sun, the beach, the music...