Jeremy Leach

Ageing

When we were children time stood still
The cries of laughter down the hill
The green of summer clothed the lane
The Tadpoles, tree-house, endless games

 

When we were teens, time could drag
The daring and the booze and fags
The green of summer clothed the lane
The radio, rebel, hearts aflame

 

When we were thirty time ran late
The house, the car, the broken gate
The green of summer clothed the lane
The mowing and the blocking drain

 

When mid-life came time barely mattered
The comfortable shoes, getting fatter
The green of summer clothed the lane
Complacency to looming change

 

And now we\'re old and time has flown
The growing ache of skin and bones
The green of summer clothes the lane
We long to be that child again