AUTUMN RETURN
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
where brambles threaten red chaffed legs
along the hidden path to home
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 where boys pass by.
With muddied shoes and tousled hair
the unseen boys materialize
on tarmacadamed roads to home.