Sun swims jauntily through the aquatic blue ether, and splashes remissfully, persistently, onto damp, claggy skin. Viscous creams, lathered desperately, provide only edifying protection to emerging flushed blotches. Gluttonous glugs of balmy water spill out of shared bottles, dousing deteriorating t-shirts, mixing unreservedly with salinated, evaporating sweat.
Subject to such attentive heat, frown but do not move for the insidious risks – thermal side effects of frivolous, eccentric kinetic displays. Remain irreverently motionless, or interpose the acute tropical sufferings with the alarming head-first entry into glacial waters of the stagnant filmy lagoon. An abrupt, temporary relief.
Languid conversations over stooped shoulders. Desolate, uncommitting laughter. Youthful, mindful ecstasy cautiously drowned by the garrulous, cool naggings of insecurity. Summer days drain away along the cracks between bricks under our muddy feet.
Broad, coarse towels seat dripping, unsuspecting witnesses to minor, hurried fatalities. Silent, vacuous tumult. Cordial, well-intended sympathy.
We are but wilful, sinful, hopeful puddles, staining the teetering stone walls of a ruthless providence.