How high can you swing?
Helen asked
high as the clouds
I said
she frowned
bet you can't
she said
I'll show you
I said
and so we went
to Jail Park
via Bath Terrace
and took up 2 swings
next to each other
and we pushed off
the ground and off
we went and she said
high as a cloud?
I bet not
and so I swung
back and forward
and higher and higher
and she beside me
pushing herself
as high she she could
her brown sandals
and white socks
(greyish)
pointing skyward
and her greeny dress
flapping in the air
and my black
scuffed shoes
reaching for the sky
my grey socks
poking out
at the ends
of my blue jeans
my arms linked
the chains
of the swing
and I pulled
back and forth
and she did likewise
but slower
and I said
I am touching
the clouds see
no you're not
you're no where near
she said
she lay back and then
shot forward
pushing the chains
of her swing
as she went
then she fell backwards
and her legs caught
in the chains
held her there dangling
and I jumped off
(nigh breaking my neck)
and stopped her swing
and there was blood
in her hair
and she was crying
and I picked her up
and dusted her down
and took out
an old handkerchief
and dabbed her head
and it went red
and she hobbled with me
to the first aid lady
in the small building
over by the edge
of the park
and she said
o what have we here?
she fell off the swing
I said
and Helen was crying
and I sat her down
in a chair
and held my handkerchief
to her reddening hair.
Oct 31, 2015
Oct 31, 2015 at 6:02 AM UTC
How high can you swing?
Helen asked
high as the clouds
I said
she frowned
bet you can't
she said
I'll show you
I said
and so we went
to Jail Park
via Bath Terrace
and took up 2 swings
next to each other
and we pushed off
the ground and off
we went and she said
high as a cloud?
I bet not
and so I swung
back and forward
and higher and higher
and she beside me
pushing herself
as high she she could
her brown sandals
and white socks
(greyish)
pointing skyward
and her greeny dress
flapping in the air
and my black
scuffed shoes
reaching for the sky
my grey socks
poking out
at the ends
of my blue jeans
my arms linked
the chains
of the swing
and I pulled
back and forth
and she did likewise
but slower
and I said
I am touching
the clouds see
no you're not
you're no where near
she said
she lay back and then
shot forward
pushing the chains
of her swing
as she went
then she fell backwards
and her legs caught
in the chains
held her there dangling
and I jumped off
(nigh breaking my neck)
and stopped her swing
and there was blood
in her hair
and she was crying
and I picked her up
and dusted her down
and took out
an old handkerchief
and dabbed her head
and it went red
and she hobbled with me
to the first aid lady
in the small building
over by the edge
of the park
and she said
o what have we here?
she fell off the swing
I said
and Helen was crying
and I sat her down
in a chair
and held my handkerchief
to her reddening hair.
A BOY AND GIRL AND AN ACCIDENT IN PARK IN 1955
Request permission to use this poem