REGRET FOR A LOST FRIENDSHIP

Terrified,

We held hands at the schule gates.

Oor mothers cried as

they waved their bairns goodbye.

The playground beckoned.

We discovered Peevers, Tig, and

skipping ropes.

We sang and teased our teachers.

They reckoned us a

parcel o’ rogues.

From the wee school to the big school

ower the hill,

we proudly made our way.

No longer weans

playing schoolyaird games.

We threw away our toys

We’d discovered boys.

You wanted a home and family, an

angil fir the hame,

to bake and knit their hats and mitts, but

the wider world was my dream.

The breadth o’ the earth divides us noo and

I yearn for the years I have missed,

for carefree days.

The lads we kissed.

Regret is no friend of age

It seeps through

my body

old and worn.

My memories rooted in my village home.