THE IMPROBABLE HEAT OF THE NIGHT

29 July, 9.20 pm.

Gloucester, UK.

The dog days.

Humid.

In the reducing evening light,

I gaze at a twilit horizon

with its promise of a deepening dark.

Then I notice the house lights below

and their brick-bound interior life.

Like mine.

I prepare, standing in my balcony door,

for the improbable heat of the night.