Games Now and Then August 22, 2009
summer rain
sat brooding over far horizon
waiting, musing, calculating
its moodiness distant thunder
lulling swimmers and golfers
greying clouds giving false blessing
short reprieve from sweltering sticky heat
one more lap in child packed pool
one more hole chased by afternoon foursome
kerack
lightening cymbal smacks ears
lifeguard's whistle commands
glistening bodies shoot from frothing pool
high fives passed as boldest ones dash toward porch
careening golf cart slews past hole two, heading in
dry clubhouse beckoning indignant golfers
kerack
swimmers watch in gleeful awe
wind making twisting waves on their pool
duffers groaning with time garnered knowledge
storm furies jump upon them
wind making cart braces sing
four heads craning behind to see
purple rain curtain undulating
suddenly God's waterbed springs a leak
no not a leak but a sky-sized rend
cold rain soaking all four men
shivering they brake cart
complaining of game not played through
plucking at soaked clothes clinging
oldest begins to laugh, remembering
cousin Jim's swimming hole
innocent disregard when summer lightening cracked
he laughs again, startling disgruntled friends
for he can see grandson
peering from poolside porch
miming his delight that grandpa is wet too
summer rain
pulls tattered cloud skirt past far horizon
winds having repaired God's waterbed tear
swimmers dive back into pool
golfers shrug embarrassed, turn cart back
return to hole five to play again
