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School Reunion

This the room where, in primary colours,
I learned to share and play and add
With paint and glue and sparkle.
Now I return
In suit and cultured wit.

We stand here, clumsily assembled
Like papier-mâché heads we made.
And I remember praising God
Before I knew
That hymns had any meaning.

I recognise them all, my classmates.
There the bully, scourge of playground's corner.
Now his piggy eyes are sorry;
A sagging jaw
Denotes his friendless pain.

And there the girl we fell in love with:
Mary, was it? Mairi? Or Marie?
Her hair blazed golden then, eyes lakes of blue.
Now anorexic;
Nativity plays are over.

The sketcher flicks sharp looks at us, like razors.
His fingers once excelled in rubbing bark.
Today, his lips are tight with envy.
His money comes
From framing artists' pictures.

I understand now that no-one is typical.
The cruelty of change has touched us all.
I'd trade my small successes
For one last playtime,
Ambitious, brick and grass beneath the sun.