Alan Dixon
Stefan's new boots
Much more than half a lifetime ago
I didn't feel right about taking the money
For all that time drinking tea in a tent.
Out of the rain with those who were glad it was raining
The foreman himself didn't look worried,
As if we could take as long as we wanted.
Heaps of tarmac weren't covered at night,
Had to be broken next day with a pick.
New to it all I liked piercing the crust.
Shoulder to shoulder in that little green tent;
Nothing to read but pictorial papers;
Nothing to hear but reiterations.
Stefan kept telling us how important
New boots were to him, so surely to everyone.
He made our word for them new as his boots.
It must have been due to the look on my face,
Which must have been different then, that he chose me,
Though I couldn't see anyone there as a friend.
Or did the older men try to avoid him?
Each seemed at ease through not knowing the others.
Had they stood enough of the boots already?
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