When the sun was high

They seperated by agreement when the sun was high,
At a day time when the sun was hot but not set in your eyes,
Seperating by nod and silence only when the sky was blue
And when there was a skylark in it
Spotting the enemy rather than us.

Shortly after I became seperated not from agreement,
Rather than incompetence by paying not too much
For a leader I was not keen on and for stopping,
When I noticed the other boys are not here.
By this time the sun was for a good swig of Tizer.

I was hearing other things,
Woodpeckers with their insistent knocking on the wood,
Rather than a battle with my erstwhile companions!
I took the left path to a little shruberry,
Thus avoiding a pitched battle.

And with the clearing leading straightforwardly
To a comforting gloom of Oak,
I was free and clear,
Out to the scrappy forest
And the usual couples enjoying each other.

First thing, though,
I had to assure myself of no followers,
I chucked the Tizer in the ditch
And ducked under the over-beam of Hawthorn
And strolled semi-guardedly through the gloomy passageway.

I opened out to the familiar pathways tinged with sand,
I knew where I was going by the children's noise
And the rope and the swing and the Elm.
The rope was swinging out for yards from the sandy precipice
As conveyed by the youthful swinger.

And I shadow-danced all around the pit because I cared to,
The shifting sand and clay was treacherous,
Slippy and gravely the way I chose to go,
Anti-clockwise as the rope gathered on the rubber tyre
And Jill's sturdy form and Tessa's slim body mixed with the boys.

I was proudly circling all that when a dog found me out!
Breaking through the bush and brushed me with his coarse wet fur,
Startling the company gathered around the swing,
Seeing me at the same time,
A smattering shot followed and shredded the leaves above my head.

© R. Frank Wilson