THINKING OF HIM

A GIRL THINKS OF A BOY SHE MET A RECESS AND THINKS OF HIM THROUGH HISTORY IN 1962

Back in class
John has gone
back in school

and Sheila
thinks of him
as they met

on the grass
by the fence
she too shy

to say much
so John said
how are you?

you like school?
it's not bad
she had said

I wanted
once to be
an enclosed

nun in France
you religious?
he had asked

I'm R.C.
she replied
what's R.C.?

he asked her
a Roman
Catholic

she answered
o I see
he replied

then they talked
about him
although he

spoke the most
she too shy
to say much

she sits now
at her desk
in the class

the teacher
on about
the English

Civil War
and writes
on the board

basic facts
for pupils
to copy

but Sheila
thinks of John
writing down

from the board
in her book
and he was

beside her
on the field
by the fence

sitting there
she sensing
him near her

feeling strange
being there
a mixture

of happy
and nervous
inside her

heart thumping
rapidly
nerves on edge

at each word
that he spoke
she likes him

his hand near
to her hand
wanting him

to touch hers
the teacher
going on

writing more
about the
Civil War

she wonders
what subject
John has got

and if he
is thinking
about her

as she is
about him
as she writes

as she has
thought of him
these last nights.