An Irish Summer

Half-tans skulk in shadows
As flaking skin snows the air
And then men with whippy vans
And the life guards on the strand
Thank Christ it’s come again.
Tomorrow will be agony
But today was made for lovers,
both As red as one another
both too blind to care
But oh for those few hours
When everyone was young,
We hang arms nonchalantly
From cars with ice-cold air,
We don the shorts, the shirts
Come off we are as pasty
As the next man who
Drove ten miles to see the beach
- And its only fifteen degrees.
For once we are content.
For once we won’t complain.
Give us sand by the bucket-load
And sangidges wrapped in foil,
Give us a lack of modesty and
Care free fun that comes
But once a year.
I think we miss the point
And get things slightly skewed
For after all we’re not
Designed to sun.