Heatweave Dreams Poem by Charlotte Peters Rock

The heatwave arriving
brings pleasure and longing
for cooler clear weather
when lawns can be tended
and weeds be disposed of
in readiness
hopelessness
for the real summer
the heatwave which now
overwhelms me

The grass didn't matter
so much in the coldness
and weeds revelled
happily under the rain
So there they are
and the heatwave arriving
puts paid to the small
possibility now
of tending and mowing
of weeding and tidying
bringing the garden
to splendid conclusions
which gardening friends
seem to reach without effort

However
the weeds
and the grasses look happy
there's greenliness spread
overhead and around

When I lie abandoned
in shade and in dreaming
as ghost-cats roam in
and the dog sighs a welcome
and just over there
- where the fox once went digging -
the lawn undulates
in a way of its own

29Jul2001 CPR