Until the change

- until the change -
Hot summer weather
nights of tangled sheets
sweat rises from cleaning teeth
zombie sleepless city
unshaven and unkempt

A stickiness of sweat
clings to every conversation
looking to the sky for the change
deliverance in the wind
trying to get through the day
when quality of light is startling
x-ray intensity through to bones
carrying constant heat

As if resting against the oven
and if the wind blows wrong
from even hotter drier parts arrives
the slap across your body
dry iron heat confronts
the struggle of your body
strength of your mind
to bow before the summer
retreat to shade and coolness
abdicate responsibility
place all work on hold

A city in the grip
of sleepless unrelenting heatwave
until the change arrives
a mantra carried in every person's thoughts
behind every bead of sweat
until the change arrives
the murmured prayers of the hot
until the change arrives.