Summer Prayer

Summer Prayer

Eric Colburn

On a hot day, on a fast bike, the breeze
Across my skin is like a sip of cool
Spring water. Later, at the lake: no pool
Like this lake water, no awning like these trees.

Even the skunky scent of someone’s weed
Can’t bring down my natural high.
A dog nips, the sun burns, but I
Am a mighty merry merman indeed.

The cannonball, the jackknife and the sailor dive–
Useful names for useless things, but then
Who’s to say these dives are useless, when
They make me feel so happy and alive?

Heading home, I’m humming the whole way—
Praying—on a fast bike, on a hot day.

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Eric Colburn
Poet & Teacher

Eric is a writer and a high school English teacher who lives in the Boston area with his wife and two children.

Photography by Red Zeppelin