On such a balmy summer's day as this
I love to throw my windows open wide,
And bask in ecstacies of aural bliss -
The sounds of the suburban countryside.
Relax awhile and turn off your T.V.
Strike all your modern mechanisms dumb.
Then come into the garden (Maud) with me,
And hearken to the modern background hum.
The ice-cream van's elusive chimes first heard -
"The Yellow Rose of Texas" is his song;
His call can out-perform the local birds -
At least the few I've heard all summer long.
The klaxon of a car alarm out west
Is tempered by a flatulent reverb
As a lesser-spotted neighbour in his vest
Scrapes his petrol-driven mower round the kerb.
Now in the distance, wafting on the breeze,
The railway service crew - you may just hear 'em -
Chain-sawing down all the "wrong sort of trees"
From rail embankments - orders are to clear 'em!
Ah - the omnipresent D.I.Y. fanatic
Who's heard but rarely seen most afternoons -
Hear those "timbres" emanating from his attic
As he saws and drills, shouts at his kids, and croons.
And high up in the summer sky so clear,
The Flight-Path-Jet is punctual in its visit.
It roars aloft and splits the stratosphere -
It's hardly a relaxing sound - well, is it?
Then later in the day do I detect
The merry sounds of children leaving schools.
Their eloquence is used to good effect
As they swear and curse and bray like jackass mules.
The local fire brigade's just been alerted,
They're tearing down the main street as I shriek!
With sirens blaring (though the street's deserted) -
Their two-tone dissonance is quite unique!
Much further in the evening comes the clamour
Of next door's dog who's left out in the rain.
He punctuates the silence like a hammer
And barks and whines all night like he's in pain.
. . . And so I close my window on the night
The peace and calm so precious to be won,
Then at 2AM the neighbours start a fight
And slam the doors and honk the horn for fun!
© Elwood Herring Summer Solstice 2001 (And it's all true!)
Visitors: