William Oxley
Boating Lake, 1950s
We would row away from the grey-planked landing-stage,
A clatter of oarlocks and swish of water
Out over a tin-bright lake
To childhood’s secret islands.
All in a different, more economical age
Wearied but simplified by recent war
When mothers still had to bake
And fathers’ orders were serious commands,
Yet a time when childhood was still childhood and good
Like on the park lake, green-filmed about
By elms, willows and trapped-in shadows,
Rowing a varnished boat brown as memory
Between sour still shallows that flowed in your blood
Inspiring silliness of laughter and shout
As little boastful prows
Rocked the lake’s serenity
Leaving wet graffiti of adventure scribbled behind
To be dusted away by impatient clouds
That would blind-man’s-buff the sun.
A solemner time but freer with joy,
In which wet-nosed nippers could more easily find
Unconditioned freedom soon lost in crowds
And times of computerised micro-fun
Not thought of when I was a boy.
Page(s) 36
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