I envied you your freedom
To wear short hair
Pierce things
I had only seen
On TV
Fall off your motorino
Breaking a wrist
With such impunity
Unafraid of the
Consequences
Approaching exams
Short skirts
Body paint
Cool for days
I didn’t see
The things that
Frightened you
Kept you acting
The social butterfly
To avoid authority
Running from those
Who demanded things
You could not bear to give
How could I?
With my own demons
To manage
In my long skirts
Flat shoes, subtle
Silent screams
Haunting adolescence
Like a will-o-the-wisp
We are similar now
Grown treading different
Yet parallel paths
Outlasting our pursuers
Ignoring our denigrators
Fiercely seeking our own truth
In a sea of snake oil salesmen
We were never friends
Yet hardly enemies
Mere acquaintances
Each wrapped up in
Our own, private concerns
On nodding terms
Barely aware the other
Existed, but rivals
For all the wrong reasons
I wish you well
Perhaps one day
Our minds may form
A greeting longer
Than the casual nod
We spare one another
From across the room
At some ghastly
Virtual reunion
Organised by those
Who peaked in high school
And want to compare
Their declining ambitions
In a club house
After dark
Like giggling teens
While the next generation
Smokes round the back
Of the toilets
Hoping a mint
Will disguise the smell
As parents pretend
Not to recognise
Their own poor choices
In their offspring
Still single?
Deserted?
Divorced?
Half dead?
Any rugrats?
Really?
Same. Or nearly.
Deep scars from wounds
Old and new
Here’s to us
And all those like us
How about it, Fay?
We happy few
Still standing here
Upon this day
Katherine Shirley 