My joy in this brilliant morning
Is tempered by many things
The earliness of my waking
My eyes folding shut
Even while my fingers
Find
Each
Key…stroke
The heat of a summer
Come on too early
Burnt leaves on a plum tree
(how can that be?)
An idea of the light
Sparkling off the lake
Licking ice cream
Tempered by more adult responsibilities
A promise to do this
Go here
Do that
Most of all
Stifled
By the threat of toxic heat

So
Instead, I lay down my head
Go back to bed
And dream of the clean blue lake
That really exists only now in my dreams
The truth a sadly diminished comparison
To the one of my memory
And get a few more hours sleep