Part of what's interesting in this memory, Max, is the social/cultural specificity of it; that separation that helps those smiles remain, which didnt happen in Canada. At least not where I went to school; so I kept seeing them, & they kept ignoring boys like me...(you know, kids with their heads in books).
Doug
On 2012-06-05, at 11:30 PM, Max Richards wrote:
> The 'Intermediate' Girls
>
> Their names have escaped me,
> the girls I went to school with,
> but...their smiles still come to mind.
>
> Beamed at me? Seldom. More
> than their names escaped me -
> none chose me as boyfriend -
>
> but their smiles still come to mind.
> Their laughter could be unkind -
> they could smirk behind
>
> the teacher's back - yet
> their smiles still come to mind.
> We were eleven or twelve,
>
> sopranos and boy-sopranos,
> off soon to separate schools.
> Seldom seen again on street
>
> or bus, they'd live apart;
> I moved away. Powers
> were accruing to those smiles.
>
> These the 'intermediate' years,
> when boys lagged a bit behind,
> watching the girls advance.
>
> Revisiting that town - I wonder
> would we have ever been friends,
> truly smile in each other's eyes?
>
> Max Richards
>
> Hutt Intermediate School
> near Wellington, 1948-49
>
Douglas Barbour
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