SUMMER BREAK (July contest)

Way back in elementary years
vacation days passed much too fast
and classes bored me near to tears;
another life deep in the past,

Mid-summer spent in ernest play
back when fierce sun had scant effect,
thich hair, deep tan kept rays at bay
no thought given for cancerous affect.

No local pond was safe from me
whether swimming or watching fishing float
often in water stained like tea,
sometimes angling from an old boat.

Or board games played with kin and neighbors,
or maybe a ballgame with the same
(seldom interrupted by any labors)
or ice cream when the white truck came.

But once in a very great while
as August came and July left
A thought would erase my slight smile
at approaching vacation's cruel cleft.

But a lot of times by then
thoughts of classmates last seen last year
would turn my frown back to a grin
as school days once again came near.