Sprinkling Relief

That blurry mirage of sizzling heat As the trucks passed by, steam rose from concrete Irvington couldn’t build a swimming pool But came up with a way to keep kids cool How I begged my mother to make the walk For three hours of laughs and silly talk At noon kids gathered in a cement pit Sprinklers turned on, we enjoyed each minute Refreshed, we passed beach balls or we played tag But mostly we just ran a jig-and-jag The park had swings, slides and arts and crafts too But at sprinkler time, none of these would do In the years before air conditioning Torrid rays of sun we kids were shunning Inner city children escaping heat This was our favorite summer retreat Moms, kids in swimsuits till showers ended Ice pops passed out to the towel-tended On weekends Dad drove us to the seashore But sprinkler days with Mom I remember more *For the “Hot Time, Summer in the City” contest