August Poetry: Boys on the Beach

A Poem by Elena Poletti

The only donkey rides going on this beach
Simpson and his little Greek beast gave,
Down off the hill,
In staring sun and hazing pain

How far it was from the shining waves
The sands and rocks of that other beach
Where you tumbled in and out of trouble
In a knot of cousins and brothers.

The battles you fought hand-to-hand
With the lads of that other gang
Among the scrub and flax
Left you with torn shorts, a bloodied nose.

How strong you grew, how tall,
Following the plough, not orders,
Hunting the wily pig, not other men,
How strong and straight and brown.

Driftwood bleaches under salt and wind
Shells crumble slowly into sand.
Your bones lie tidily packed away
Where the sun can never reach.


(Revised April 2017)