Citatepedia^®.com

The Summer of Sixty Eight

It wasn’t the summer of 69
It was the summer of 68
A levels
Leaving school
Suddenly the map of life changed
School bullies puffed up on hormonal bravado
Were now like amateur men
John Marshall
A school bully
Who, strangely, I got on with
Me with my sticky out ears and buck teeth and skinniness
Him with that rascal look
Him who’d got two B’s
And me with my 4 A’s
Summer
Hot – at least for England.

We’d all got our results
No more school uniform
Eighteen
But still sitting near the kids’ playground
At ‘the Marsh’
We’d grown up there
Been kids there
And now the great divide would come
Me – university to study maths
Him – he had no idea.

Forty years later
Him – a mental health nurse in Leeds
Me - a mental health patient in Gosford
What happened to that divide?
To that parting of the ways?
Had we just taken different paths
But followed the same journey
Though to different destinations?

The sun’s now shining in Australia
But it’s wet and cold in Leeds
I think he may be happier
For not wanting to succeed.

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!