I could have counted
the buttons
on her green
school cardigan;
could laid my head
on her soft lap,
on the green skirt;
gazed up
at the blue skies;
seen her
looking down
at me,
her eyes
dark pearls
in white cases;
but the school bell
had tolled
for the end
of recess,
and we had
to go back in.
The afternoon
was numbed
by her absence,
the teacher
rattling on
about some
scientific wonder,
left me out
in the cold,
seeing
in my mind's eye,
she,
her beauty,
her eyes,
her smile,
against the backdrop
of a bright blue sky.
SCHOOL BOY THINKING ABOUT A SCHOOL GIRL IN 1962.