Читать книгу The Red Files - Lisa Bird-Wilson - Страница 11
ОглавлениеBoys’ Class Date Unknown
frost-breath escapes; any day
everyone expects first snow
each boy has a poppy pinned
to his left lapel, above the heart, reminder
of the Great War
their faces clear
cheeks like glass beads
the Reverend Canon Atwater spends
considerable time setting it up:
the younger boys kneel
in the spiky November grass
despite their good suits
the older ones, support crew,
form a zigzag line behind
a latticework fence the backdrop that almost hides
the brick of the school
burned to the ground in ’29
as the shutter clicks Freddie Bird tucks
his head down and forward
hands clutched together in front,
laughter in his chest,
while Alex Moosemay grins out of his skin
face turned
to greet the prairie sky
little Hector on the other side of Freddie,
his one knee forward, chin tilted up
anxious, as if he wants in
on the joke
or might tell
I’m telling you now
it’s November
1927, that time
they shared a laugh
those boys
at the school beside the blue sloughs
in the heart of the Touchwood Hills
