Innocence lost

110 degrees in the shade
With
40 percent humidity...
Sweating bullets
As the soles of my sneakers
Melt,
Forming to the blacktop. .
Secreting sweat
Through my pores
As though water through a sieve...
As I peel my shirt
From my back
I feel a weight lifted
As my sopping wet shirt
Slams with a liquid splatter
To the ground
Followed swiftly by
The sizzle of
Boiling water's evaporation
Upon concrete...
A statically muffled A.M.
Radio station
Broadcasting through
Decrepit speakers
"It's the top of the inning, bases are loaded..."
The day's big sporting event...
A heavy weight
Of saturation looming
Mid air
Bending distant stop signs...
Illusions cast
To remind you of the
Extreme discomfort...
As I reach into the cooler
For a luke warm,
Half drank bottle of water
Floating atop the
"Used to be" ice
I see a group of young children
Jumping rope...
Perfectly content...
None the wiser
Of the wasted youth
They face.
Innocence lost....