23. May, 2020

'Home From School'

Warley Road Primary topped the hill.
Two flagged playgrounds sloping down,
One for boys,
One for girls,
Each marked with its arch;
Round stone balls on gable roofs,
An old orphanage for the many left behind
Become a school.
We sped down bottle glass slides
For our Winter sports;
In Summer, for boys only,
Squeezy bottles for footballs,
For the girls whip and top,
To make chalk pattern whorls.
A grab of penny sweets from across the street,
Sticky black jacks, jungle fruit chews
And that hubba bubba bubblegum
Which even smelt pink.
Then to go home down Wainhouse Road,
With cobbled sets and flagstones that shone
Like copper conkers in the rain;
One blackened graveyard on the left
Going down,
Uphill past another on the right;
Ethels and Mabels and Alberts,
‘At rest’ below Wainhouse Tower.
Crossley and Porter’s over the road,
Another orphanage turned school
And as grand as a chateau
With its mansard roofs for the poor.
But now, just the elite,
Who have passed their exam,
Can go through it.
Then I’m back in the door for tea,
On a Wednesday, hairdresser’s night,
‘American salad’ prepared by dad,
Ham hock, tinned peaches, cream cheese.

Ruth Enright