There is a coldness to the sun

There is a coldness to the sun

The way it burns a hole in the sky

Unrelenting in its implacability

We were told it was our friend

To get out into it

Let it shine upon us, play out in the open

All-day long

Take in the fresh sea air

Travel to a Victorian Spa resort

If you can afford it

Public information shorts

At the local cinema

Naturist films with tennis rackets

Covering the naughty bits.

Whatever happened to the second feature?

Which was often a ‘noir’ classic

With Donald Pleasance for the menace

Peter Cushing for the gore

High noon in Devils Canyon is brutal

Too much like torture

A sweatbox in a prison camp

Alec Guinness

Wishing he was ice cold in Alex with Anthony Quale

Nothing is ever as simple as it appears

Black and white is a motif

Hiding so much

Within its paler shades of grey

Even the sun has a dark side

Waiting to reveal itself

Australians cover themselves in sunscreen

They can be

As slippery as Eels

So hard to catch a tight hold of

If you really have a mind to

There is a temptation when

Motorised scooters fly by

At twice the speed of sound

Many women walk with umbrellas

As once pale-skinned imperialists

Used tiny tasselled parasols

It is a little sad when pallor is seen

As a sign of breeding as well as good health

Put that down to the darkness in our souls

It is as constant as the sunrise

The brutality of summer is unforgiving

So many arid spaces

Wells that once held water now run dry

Bring on the rain

For a little light relief

Until the storm comes

It will sweep us all away

Nothing is as straightforward as a film script

There is no locus of control

There are no scenes to shoot

In or out of sequence

No soft-focus lens to filter out sun damage

Baz Luhrmann got it right

Don’t forget your sunscreen

It is the safest protection

You will find

Under the sun