Jane looks confused.
I kissed her
when I met her
by the water tower
in Bugs Lane.
Why did you
kiss me?
She's wearing
her grey dress
and cardigan;
her eyes look at me.
Impulse,
I didn't think,
I say,
presumptuous of me.
Presumption
is like a kind of theft.
Sorry,
should have asked.
She looks over
the hedge
towards the farm,
then back at me.
I wasn't expecting it,
but it was nice.
I feel like a ****;
I look at her
dark hair
long and untied
by ribbons
as she does sometimes.
If you'd been a peach
I’d have nibbled.
She smiles
and looks up
towards the Downs.
A blue tractor
is climbing upward.
I hope he's careful,
she says,
a tractor driver
was killed
a few months ago
doing that;
he was crushed
beneath the machine.
I look at the tractor.
He seems competent.
So did the one killed;
my father had
to comfort the widow
and perform
the funeral service.
I take her in
side ways on:
her complexion is pale,
her lips
a washed out pink.
Maybe I can show you
his grave
in the churchyard.
Ok,
I say.
Churchyard viewing
is not
my favourite pastime,
but if I’m with her
I don't mind
watching paint dry.
I want to kiss her again,
but feel unsure.
Sorry about
the presumptuous kiss.
She looks at me.
Imagine I'm a peach,
she says.
I kiss, not nibble;
we kiss
and she nibbles
my lip with her lips.
I feel electricity
tingle my finger tips.
A BOY AND GIRL IN A COUNTY LANE IN 1961.