Christopher Allan
The Hat Game
All that summer, back
when kids were still kids,
we prepared for the worst.
Waterproofed to the gills
we clambered aboard,
waited for the green engine
to chuff and puff us to the sea.
Through the long afternoon
we rolled, through vellum light
and slow unscrolling smoke,
and as each tunnel swallowed
us, we became magicians
in the momentary, lampblack
kerfuffle, swapping hats
so that we emerged
into daylight’s sudden shout,
hats haywire and poker faced
until, doubled and helpless,
laughter broke us up.
In tunnel after tunnel
we perfected our high-jinks,
not noticing how the sky wrote
its warnings of a coming storm
above fields of sheep and crows;
nor did we guess how such gladness
could not follow us, the coast lightningforked,
the rain dampening our smiles.
Page(s) 50
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