i lay before you ladies and gentlemen

iridescent summer in iridescent pastel

the tents of yesteryears crammed full of memory

my australian idyllic place where i hide

there is no such place

it was once before me

it is now clearly behind me

the sea meets the carnival nights

all those kids coming out with their mums and dads

i saw a kid called vickers in a red shirt and long white pants

i was shocked at how grown up he looked

the carousel throbbing in my head

i kissed a girl from a catholic school

i swam in the sea pool alone in the night under a lonely light

this was my summer to claim or to blame

i owned that summer in the city by the sea smile

it was my summer everyone could have probably seen that

i was speeding in my fathers white cars

speeding through the naked streets behind the towns

speeding in the long lanes of shadow thrown by the sea towers

i was crashing in darkness in cinemas on stuffy airless nights

we fidgeted through god save the queen

but i digress it was a long time ago

now that i wander in summer my self

my new self my good self somewhat improved

the smell of that old suntan lotion in the distance i grant you

the sky is brighter though and more overbearing

its blueness threatens to burst in the sky

then afternoons move into fog and latitudes of softest warmest rain

as sweet as scarlets murmured kisses she says daddy i love you

or maybe it was the windows catching in the wind

but there is no wind

the summer night is still

pregnant perhaps with tomorrow

a summer day complete with the losers n champs

the beer will flow the children will wait

the mowing of a lawn

the hammer far away

theres a pool in that backyard darling

just on your tiptoes there can you see it

yes i see it oh its beautiful

summer is my thing look i can sell it back to you

my summer is in word and paint and song

my summer last all year long

my summer of  strange colour

my summer of sand in the bed

my summer of drama my summer of pine trees

my forest of summer at the back of the yard

the mosquito bites are starting to itch

my freckly skin gone a bit pink in the sun

this rockpool  has a clue for me

its indecipherable but still its a clue

in the backstreets of another bondi arm in arm

the summer people evaporate at my whim

i cast a storm upon the busy streets

but still the rain is soft

softer than anything else in this world

summer isnt fun when everyone you knew is gone

hang around in the market

i buy a shirt i never wear

the guy seemed so nice and i couldnt say no

he told me so much about the shirt

it would have been churlish not to buy it

it hangs in the wardrobe accusingly i sometimes think

i wonder if i should wear it

i try it on and it looks stupid

but in my summer of summers where all the boardshorts fit perfectly

the lights have changed and the baby rain has slowed to a mild fuzz

i’m having a milkshake in a cafe somewhere there

chatting up a couple of girls staying just over the bridge

and one of ems nice and one of ems not

the nice one says something nice

the not nice one saying something not nice

in bewilderment i turn on her quickly and rude

i say something quite nasty and stupid

and both of you stand of up and get ready to leave

you really are as bad as my friend makes you out

i sit in my summer alone but its nice

i mean my heart is wounded so it listens to songs on the jukebox

songs about guys with broken hearts just like mine

and i find a sense of sweetness and purpose

and a sense of necessity in all of those songs

those songs that some guy wrote for some woman

and she goes and leaves him or dies from OD

those songs about the loneliness of empty rooms

an empty old bed as the summer sun waves goodnight

in my summer of love love is elusive

in my summer of youth i imagined them up

summer of mercy

summer of mornings

summer of evenings ripped from a film

summer of heat summer of pain

summer of upheaval summer of null

crystallised summer in packets of lollies

i bid you all now sweet summer dreams

my head is so heavy

the night is forgiving

let it go on forever

forever and ever

amen