It’s Summertime,

And the livin ain’t been too easy

It was another scorcher today

Temperature over Ninety-Five

It’s so hard to breathe in this city

Everyone here seems barely alive

It’s been too damn hot and humid

Most folks here are staying indoors

Their air conditioners are on full blast

And they can’t take too very much more

A severe drought has ravaged our old town

We haven’t had a good soaking rain since May

Making everyone here hot irritated and lethargic

And it’s truly hard to find any energy left to play

The once green summer plants are all wilting

The many city trees look so sad and forlorn

The birds in the parks are too parched to chirp

And the yellow grass looks all burnt and worn

But night has finally fallen

In this huge city of my birth

So I load my two dogs in my truck

And I drive off to find a little mirth

We soon launch our small fishing boat

And motor off into the deep vast black lake

The smog-filled city lights lie right before us

And even out on the water there is nary a wake

Miraculously a gentle wisp of a lake breeze

Slowly begins to drift towards us in the night

It’s so shockingly cool and so unexpected

All three of us immediately sigh with delight

I had ventured out on this enormous lake

To do a little summertime night fishing

But the water looks so invitingly cool

I soon find myself quickly undressing

I excitedly jump right overboard

And I’m soon quite thoroughly refreshed

My two panting mutts don’t waste another second

Quickly discovering this cold water is simply the best

Eventually a huge school of Chinook salmon

Brushes past us in the very calm moonlit lake

I swear a few of them look like twenty pounders

But tonight their freedom is definitely not at stake

Instead after our truly invigorating midnight city swim

My two dogs and I drift serenely through the summer night

It’s so wonderfully quiet and cool and soothing out here now

And finally thankfully once again summer seems just about right

It’s Summertime,

And the livin is easy again

©2005, Ed Kostro