AFTER SCHOOL WALK.

[dadio]

After lessons at junior school
coming down the bricks stairs

Helen said
can I walk home with you?

Sure
you replied

and she set off with you
along St George’s Road

the traffic and smoke fumes
setting the scene

she in her school frock
and cardigan

and white ankle socks
beside you in your grey jacket

and grey short trousers
and she said

I don’t usually walk home alone
but mum said I can walk home

with you save her coming along
to the school with the other kids

and pram with baby
you took in

her two plaits of hair
and thin framed glasses

with large lens
which made her eyes

larger than they were
her small hands

by her side
a small school bag

over her shoulder
and did you know

Janice likes you?
Her grandmother

told my mother
the other day

after school
but I like you better

do you like me?
she asked

you noticed
she had small white teeth

with a thin brace
along the top

sure I do
you replied

I like Janice too
but you I like more

and she smiled
and put her right hand

in yours and squeezed it
and you smiled

but hoped none
of the other boys around

noticed the hand holding
after all a tough boy

has a reputation to maintain
and as you squeezed

her hand back
clouds darkened

and it started
to piss with rain.

[saw]

a sweet innocence permeates, as most should be able to recall a similar moment from school as we all tried to figure out how it all worked......enjoyed

[the mingo]

[stilltrucking]

how old is junior high in England? Trying to relate across the cultures.
Here it used to be about twelve or thirteen. Used be sixty years ago no idea what it is now.
on a personal note
I was such a doofus in junior high, I never made the connection between the girl in my homeroom class with the pretty face and tight fitting straight skirt and my tented pants. I was just

thank you for the poem and the flash back.

[dadio]

Thank you, the mingo

[dadio]

Thank you, Saw.

[dadio]

Hi stilltrucking,
back in 1950s in England it was 5-11 years old. The poems is set circa 1955 when I saw 7/8. I never saw girls then as related to sex or such but probably something of their gentleness or softness copmared to the boys who were usually neither.

Thank you for reading the poem & commenting.