TWO WOMEN EATING ICE CREAM IN THE SUN

 

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"MMMMM," she says, licking,
nibbling along the edge of her waffle cone.
"Oh my God!" agrees her friend,
loosening a chunk of chocolate
with her tongue.
As they step outside the shop,
cones held aloft,
a brown and black dog sits up straight,
being His Very Best Self,
thinking the treat is for him,
and everybody laughs.

"Let's talk about positive things,"
they had agreed as they set out.
Too often, these days,
the news is bad, alarming, scary.
Too often, it feels like
half the world's gone mad.

But when the sun is shining silver
patterns on the sea, and small 
migrating seabirds are gathering
along the shore, as they have done
for all the years before,

when dogs with loopy grins
gambol across the sand,
and an ice cream cone is 
melting in one's hand,
when all of spring and summer
lies before, life is so good
we need not one thing
more.

Day 12