YOUR POEMS

A Nation Tanned & Healthy

Ever tried to sleep at night

When the temperature is high

Fitful in a pool of sweat

Uncomfy e’en to lie?

When day’s been in the nineties

And the very trees do wilt

We shall long for deepest winter

And our duvets or a quilt.

Ever languid, ever restless

In the drone of leccy fans

In the prickled heat of flesh exposed

To sun for super tans.

We’ve all burned to a frazzle

Prematurely wrinkled prunes

Breathing in unhealthily

All those non-stop traffic fumes;

For the windows are wide open

Just to catch a cooling breeze

Yet all we catch is noise unleashed

And a most unhealthy wheeze.

But tomorrow we’ll be at it

Stretched near-naked in the sun,

Old-age beckoning e’re its time

Skin-damage overdone.

Yet, at least, time be recovered

For we’re catching up on sleep,

Dreaming in our reverie

Still fitful, incomplete.

We’re a nation tanned unhealthy

And we’re glowing through and through,

Just longing for the winter

With its fogs, its snow and ’flu.

Each one is now unhealthy

Wheezing long into the night,

Wizened like a wrinkled prune,

And wrinkled skin’s not right.