During his afternoon break
and her half day from work
they met at the back
of his house by the woods

where the corrugated
iron garage stood
she in her grey skirt
and white blouse

and summer jacket
and he in blue top
and jeans and hair
combed in the Elvis style

slightly greased
she talked of the store
she worked
the customers

the manager's moans
the poor pay
and he listening
as they walked

through the woods
hand in hand
she animated
her voice clear

as dawn's light
he liking to hear
sensing her mood
thinking of the school days

the year before
how easier it was
back then to meet
that time in the gym

at school in lunch hour
and later
that hay barn adventure
and that time

they got caught out
in the rain
and were drenched
and how his mother

let her dry and wear
other clothes she'd saved
they reached the edge
of the pond

and stared out
and over the watery skin
the ducks
the swan who'd

settled there
and they lay
on the grass
dry as hay

flowers weary
from the afternoon heat
birds singing
from branches over head

and she lay back
taking in the sky
hands behind her head
and he lay beside her

commenting
on passing clouds
the shapes
and what they were

he sensing her there
her hand
her body close
to his

her raised leg
the way her thigh was
the eyes of her
gazing upwards

the blue gazing
at blueness
and he thinking
of that time

by this pond
they last came
and she kissed him
until his lips

were sore
but now she lay
and talked of clouds
and what the shapes

may be
or of work
and how it tired her
no kissing of lips

or caressing hands
on flesh
just the lying
the idle talk

the sky above
the slow
seeping away
of a former love.