Dog Days

Dog Days

The last winter was warm
Unusually so
But then in February
there was a big blow
People seemed relieved
To know
that winter still had bite
Spring came early and fast
Perhaps Gaea wanted to make
that last
spring memorable
And she did
It was wet and sloppy
But people were happy
The menace of drought
had been lingering on their minds
for uncounted time
Ah, the foliage that spring was supreme!
And the freshly washed faces
of flowers were sublime
Lilacs and azaleas, morning glory and honeysuckle
and rhododendrons
all bloomed in March
They exploded with color and scent
Riotously
A sensual triumph
But it didn’t feel right
All the fruit trees burst forth at once
The smell was otherworldly.
People with allergies
were in misery
The rest reveled in the
au natural aroma-therapy
and were unnaturally happy
The glorious light added to
general good humor
Never before had the earth
put on such a display
Clouds covered the sun
The rain and the wind continued to blow
Keeping the scorching sun
from damaging the fragile beauty of the show
As summer commenced
weathermen were skittish ,
and timorous in their predictions
They didn’t really know what to expect
except the unexpected
But May and June, early July passed
Most days were cool and stormy
When the sun did win out it was brutal
The air was hot and smarmy
On the beaches the sand
was like molten glass
on days when the sun
won the battle for the sky
And the poor ravaged ocean
was a warm and gentle bath
Well before early July
On sunny days no one ever
commented on the weather
But news of weather elsewhere
couldn’t be ignored
as temperatures soared
It was flat out hot in the badlands
Here, it seemed like Indian summer --
September or early October --
on the days when the sun did shine
No one suspected what was to come
But businessmen got the utilities deregulated
in greedy anticipation
of the price the populace
would be willing to pay
some fine day
to be cool
when things heated up
And then it hit like a tsunami
A great big boiling, torrent
of a storm
By the sea the driving rain was wet, hot and salty
Rain fell like life’s blood drawn
from wounds inflicted upon
earth by humanity
And Gaea took her revenge
for the indignities she had suffered
at the hands of mankind
August came
and the sun rose each morn
like a disk of molten copper newly born
The air was still:
No breeze dared Solar’s wrath
Steam rose from the earth
which had been so thoroughly bathed
that spring
The city became a fetid sauna
The crops in the countryside withered
as farmers rushed to reap them
before they died,
to become worthless victims of
Gaea’s anger
The old and the very young suffered sore
in the water wars
as diseases spread
Water was a precious commodity
and electricity became scarce --
Owned by the rich
who kept cool in the country, or in
boarded up seaside homes:
Homes insulated from the weather
for which they were originally designed
as temples of worship
Life became intolerable in the inner city
Public swimming pools
were open sewage ponds
Yet the populace swarmed to them for comfort
Shopping malls became deadly mob scenes
as uniformed security guard
turned away all but those
with coin to spend
in air conditioned havens
Fountains became malodorous pools of plague spreading slime
The city’s sanitation workers became heralds of death
All but the wealthy and fit fell ill
as summer’s breath
heated temperatures and tempers
August stretched into September
As the heat poured out of the sky
people gave in to despair
Electricity was rare
The electric company was sacked
and its workers were sacrificed
to the monstrous new God: Solar
Finally, finally October came
and with it, hurricanes
of monstrous proportion
People rushed out to greet the storms
and met their death
For the storms were of immeasurable ferocity
as if Gaea was trying to
eradicate the evidence of her wrath
November was a time of
true Thanksgiving
although the harvest was bitter
Man had finally reaped what he had sown