A RECOLLECTION
Against the thin autumnal skies
a bell rings from a profiled tower
as boys emerge in haste.
Multi-coloured clothing shed
by naked trees in filigree
is kicked and crunched by black-laced shoes
along the hidden path to home
where brambles threaten red chaffed legs
Opaque streams of drifting smoke
point to bonfires newly lit
where men in caps dig sodden soil
to sounds of stainless steel in clay
beyond the hedge and out of view
With muddied shoes and tousled hair
unseen they soon emerge
on tarmacadamed roads to home.