Summer Afternoon

Summer afternoon is still hot.
Sun moves in blue sky
Stinging and biting the earth
Silence drifts in and out of mild breeze
Like Earth's heart beating on ventilator
I wish for heat to go away
But it sticks upon white concrete
With dead worms and skeleton bugs
The spark of life that morning sun ignites
Vanishes in afternoon heat
Nothing seems to be moving
In that pensive and harsh landscape
The only soft touch comes from a pink Hosta
Its green foliage
Limping to survive the heat
A glint of light flicker among leaves
As a patch of cloud
Moves in blue sky to cover the sun
A shadow of dark spreads through
Not so green a lawn
Like a giant merciful
Hand to shade the burning earth
A soothing balm for my own weariness
I stand there to watch
A fiery afternoon
Getting subdued
A gladness returning to tired heart.