in the infants we
wanted to be a junior
soon to be a senior
and then want to be
an infant.

it's terribly difficult
to sit still for a moment
when the minutes are
so hard to catch

and so
I chased the girls for
a lifetime and then it was
teatime,

black and white television
when
parental supervision
meant a clip 'round the ears
if you didn't behave.

In the tavern with dad on my
best behaviour and a pint
of Tetley bitter which was not
'my cup of tea'

Earlier in the juniors when
I never went,
being
intent on turning over the rocks
in the shallows as the tide ran away

and today
I wonder why we called them 'snigs'
those eels were as bendy as drunken legs
but tasted great cooked over the wood fire
which we lit higher up the river bank.

When we get to where we're going some
would like to go again,
once was enough for me.