SKATING ON THIN ICE

Now there’s a pastime for you;

Young enough not to know better

We taught ourselves how to,

And sometimes paid the price

 

We carved figures of eight

Figures of three and five too

While Hopper McGrath kicked a hole in the shallow end

With thumps from the heel of his shoe

 

But nature had the last laugh

And slid him into a clump of nettles

And the breath laughed from the rest of us

Like steam from the spouts of kettles

 

Cracked ice, grass-crunching like apple-munching

Shiver-me-timber dancing

The old farmer prancing

And helter-skelter

For the school-yard shelter

 

Nowadays skating on thin ice comes easy

 

my new book of poems ’67’ is now available as an ebook, and in paperback soon. http://www.tinhuttalespublishers.co.uk/67/