Summary Poem by Mary Champion

To summarize summer is not hard to do,
the flowers are bright and the sky will be blue.
It's holiday time and we're off to the sea,
there's Ice cream for lunch and strawberries for tea.
Out in the countryside the farmers make hay
and on village greens you'll see cricketers play.
A punt on the river; a midsummer ball-
are signs of the season we love most of all.
At Stonehenge the Druids and Wiccans will meet.
It's Carnival time on a West London Street.
Fetes, fairs and festivals every weekend,
loud music and laughter are sure to offend.
Sunbathers will litter the beaches and parks.
Sea swimmers are threatened by man-eating sharks.
You can't get to sleep for the nights are too hot.
The neighbour's dog's barking and ought to be shot.
The lawn has turned brown now the hosepipe is banned.
What's happened to our green and once pleasant land?
The smoke from the barbecues burning our eyes,
the stinging of wasps and the buzzing of flies,
the blazing of rows from the couple next door.
You meant to get tanned, but you ended red raw.
It's too hot to work, but you've got bills to pay.
In train, car or bus you'll be stifled each day.
The acres of flesh and the lycra that clings-
thank God British summers are just fleeting things.