ragamuffins 1955

 ragamuffins 1955

ragamuffins castellated around their red hole seats

jump inside and to one side the black culvert

with the stove-in corrugated roof

fill it with smoke and the winner stays

the longest coughing a blue earned respect

ochre cinder tips grass covered

not the black clinking tip’s shining slag

paths foot-inscribed and changing with

the excavations of the cranes deciding

on the rise and fall of adventures 

step beyond last daring step

every death-defying truth unknown

beyond the company of pals

ragamuffins one and all

not one shoe unshod

every item of clothing unclothed in rips 

the soils of these self same tips

seven tarmac pyramids

of historical extraction unknown

leaping from one to the other

the epitome of habitual bravado

to the grass-kneed slope of the king’s castle

and down goes the invader’s enfilade

sally rhubarb clubbing away their rights

two paths one destination

two paths of an infinite return

with the medals of adventures 

changing time and again hammering

play into its rightful place 

the steps to adulthood understood

but hidden in insider games

what was afoot was being afoot

on top of this industrial detritus

to us it was out to play

for kids in my day went out to play 

and devil take the hindmost

and often did

i saw it with my own eyes

a long long time ago

there were these ragamuffins 

and i was one of them

with my own seat

on the castellated red hole

the king of the castle

i was