Girl in a summer dress

The park is tinder dry and brittle-bone,

wraith clouds wither in the Wedgewood blue

oblivious you lie there all alone

while all the world stops turning  – just for you.

Wandering pages of some other place

in leopard shade of genuflecting trees,

the lake strews shimmering diamonds on your face,

your wheat-field hair a sanctuary for the breeze.

The sun’s tongue licks the ice-cream of your skin

and strips you bare to silhouette and line;

an innocence inviting carnal sin

- enigma of all feminine design.

You’ve yet to learn the power of your spell;

to hold men, helpless, over heaven - and hell.