Shorts and t-shirts sit unused <br />In the bottom of my bedroom drawer. <br />The bottle of factor fifty suntan lotion- <br />Sits unopened on the dressing room table. <br />I've check my calendar - yes - <br />The month of August - yes - <br />Irish summertime - to the optimist! <br /> <br />Getting ready for a glorious evening walk - <br />To enjoy the long evening and August sun. <br />Have I got everything I need? <br />Better bring the raincoat and umbrella - <br />Perhaps Wellington boots and a woolly hat. <br />Very dull, overcast and grey - <br />Perhaps I need a torch. <br />Wet grass squelches underfoot, <br />Wind rustles through the trees, <br />Already the leaves begin to fall. <br /> <br />Sunday morning dawns. <br />It just wouldn't be summer, <br />Without a day at the coast. <br />Packing the car with those beach essentials - <br />Windproof jacket and a Thermos flask of soup. <br />The rain-soaked sand sticks to my shoes <br />As a gust of wind blows the top of my ice-cream cone. <br />My skin turns blue as I go for a swim. <br /> <br />I cough and splutter in a cloud of smoke, <br />As the soaking wet matchbox falls apart - <br />Rain soaked charcoal is hard to light <br />Whoever thought a barbecue was a good idea? <br />I throw the lot in bin - <br />Fish and chips sitting in the car - <br />Looking at the sea through misted glass. <br /> <br />I love the Irish summer-time, <br />Don't you? <br />Could be so much worse. <br />It's not as if we get a lot of rain - <br />Sure it only rains for fifteen minutes, <br />Every quarter of an hour!<br /><br />bryan wallace<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-the-summertime/
