The Scent of Sunshine

The smell of clothes dried in the hot summer sun

This poem captures a nostalgic childhood memory of bringing in clothes dried in the hot summer sun with her mother. The poem evokes the joy and warmth of the moment, reflecting on the sensory experience of the sunshine-infused clothes.

This poem reflects my memory of time spent with my mother. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers reading this poem. I wrote this poem, in 2019, after bringing my clothes in from drying outside in the sunshine on a hot sunny day while living in Yeppoon, Central Queensland. This poem reflects on a pleasant childhood memory that I remember through the smell of clothes dried in the hot summer sun. 

The Wilted Rose is a novel based on the good, the bad, the happy and the sad life of my mother and my childhood. Over the next month, I will publish poems, exerts from the book and references to songs that reflect the ambience of the moment.

I wrote this poem, one summer day while living in sunny Yeppoon, Central Queensland after I brought the clothes in from drying outside in the sunshine. Beverley Joy.

Listen HERE – Poem The Scent of Sunshine

Breathe deep the sunshine in the clothes.

I close my eyes and go back in time

When I was but a little child

I can see Mum standing in the sun

It’s time to bring the dry clothes in.


Her curls dancing, her skirt swaying

To the song she sings in the summer breeze

I skip and dance around my mum

As she folds the clothes that had dried in the sun.


The sun was captured in the folds of the fabric

I was so excited that we could have

The sun with us inside our house.


Mum put my clothes on the end of my bed

I’d pick them up and breathe in deep

Holding the sun deep inside me

Filling my lungs, my cells, my feet.


Breathe deep the sunshine in the clothes.

My dreaming ends when I open my eyes

But the scent of the sun lingers on

As I stand barefoot in the summer sun

And smell the clothes crisp and dry on the line.


Standing in the summer breeze

My hair dancing, my skirt swaying

To the song, I’m singing in the summer breeze.


Breath deep the sunshine in the clothes.

Anytime I can capture the sun

In the folds of the clothes that have dried in the sun

I can keep the sun and the memory

Inside my home, inside my soul.

Beverley Joy © 2019 of Simply Story Poetry

You can listen to all my poems on several podcast platforms here

Photo by Bardo Luna

Sunshine on my shoulder – Carly Rae Jepsen

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