Down By The Frozen River

Silhouetted by the dawn The schoolboys shuffled and yawned Muffled underfoot by blankets of snow Observed by a solitary crow Traipsing across those wintry fields Me and my friends pretending to be ill Then, wheeling away from school The humour turned cruel Platform soles of ice and mud Blazers of fur caked in blood In thicket dens on makeshift beds Quarts of cider spinning heads Faking intimacies with unobtainable girls Inventing futures in an uncertain world Like seeds on frozen soil the wind had blown Who can reap what cannot be sown? Othеrs studied hard – stayed behind aftеr class Convinced a better life might lie within grasp The relentless broadcasts in received pronunciation Consolidating this indoctrination But, over-educated to the point of stupidity Many lost their spirit as well as their liberty Faced with a future – to which my kind is consigned I escaped with an empty head – but an open mind