Jason Ridpath's speaker sits listening to summer rain and finds it oddly unsettling. The drops tapping on the ledge get stuck in their head, and the sound turns into a playlist of "our favourite songs," so the weather becomes a doorway into a shared past. The word "our" suggests a relationship, though the poem never says exactly who the other person is.
The speaker looks back on two seasons: a harsh winter of "survival of the fittest" and a summer spent balancing "hits and misses." They wished the pain would vanish, but the phrase "borrowed time" hints that they knew the good moments couldn't last. With summer ending and a new academic year approaching, things feel like they're closing, yet the "trials and tribulations are still here."
The mood is wistful and a little weary. The last line, about manifestation still being "in gestation," leaves the speaker caught between hope and waiting, as if the things they wanted haven't arrived yet.