WORLD IS SUDDENER THAN WE FANCY IT
The world presents itself
outside the staff room door
as if it were a frightened child
told to report to the head.
It is a picture postcard scene.
There is more snow
than anyone could know
...what to do with.
Mistletoe & holly frolic
...an obligatory robin bobs along.
Teachers...broke...smoke
...joke on their break
clasp strong steaming cups of tea
in their fingerless mittens
(more for comfort and warmth) .
Someone shrieks: “Oh! For god’s sake...give us a break! ”
Someone else has to “go to the loo or...” – they’ll burst!
We are not as the pupils imagine us as.
The heating’s gone again.
We watch each other’s breath
chatting...talking
you know
with any luck they’ll close
us and send us and the kids home!
Everyone silently prays: “Oh...please! ”
There is a knock on the door
that nobody pays attention to
...until they have to.
Outside...
in the amazing Dickensian Christmas scene
a little girl
dressed only in a vest and nothing else
shivers and taps once again.
Dazed – we let her in
hear our amazed voices
enquiring: “My God...where have you been...what are you doing? ”
Someone removes their jacket...puts it around her...she is lost in it.
She shivers still and tells us
she wants her big brother
(the only protection she knows) .
He is only one year older than her
...just started big school.
A shocked middle class voice asks:
“But where’s your Mummy? ”
The little girl...belligerent
and at war with the world
informs us that Mummy
was busy...******* a man
And put her outside in the snow
until the man had gone.
Outside snow continues to fall
oblivious to what any of us... think.
We present ourselves to this child
like the frightened adults we are.
Behind her brown eyes
there is more world
than we can even guess at.
How many more years will it be
before Mummy throws her in
...for an extra fiver.
In the room the men come and go.
Next year I will
attempt to teach her Maths
(how things are divided into Fractions)
And she will smile and say:
“Sir...are you having a laugh or what? ”
She won’t want to know.
Now...the snow settles
...covers everything.
The world is so
...pretty.