Conclude (verb)

By Galia Admoni

The tails of school ties,
the dreams and hopes of a ripened mass,
fathom-blue, yellow and emerald stripes
strobe in the wind,
wave farewell for the final time,
whip gleefully through the school gates,
and out into the concrete world.

A rushing sea of
tear soaked blazer sleeves.
Muffled cries in shoulder pads
race towards futures not yet mused;
punctuate the air like bird song.

I break away from the crowds
intending to return to school’s heart,
but there, discarded on the pavement
a lone tie flounders;
flaps its last
like a fish gasping for air,
facing a fate it never knew it had.

I approach slowly;
Step
       Following
                     Step
And see for the first time that I know this article.
And remember with warmth the first time we locked eyes.
And stopped it in the corridor to share a morning greeting.
And gave it a late detention.
And sent it home with a note,
all threadbare edges and ragged expectations.

Once, I saw it crying alone near the back gate.
Sibilant sniffs, single sloping tears,
masked by the cheers of goals and fifteen minute freedoms,
struggling desperately to remain unnoticed.
I moved along that day and kept a distance –
should I have paused?

I saw the smile,
pullulated the joy,
that resonated when I returned a marked paper,
filled with gold dust and branded with gold stars.

But now,
the wind begins to settle
and the tie rests,
discarded,
on the cracked, coarse ground.

Where is the neck that proudly wore it now? 

I take a final glance, turn, and press back a few paces;
determined to find my way back to the snug,
for respite.

Ties may be discarded,
but dreams and hopes are not confined to schools,
                                                                  to uniforms,
                                                                  to silver clips on white collars,
                                                                  to anything.

---

Written Word ‘Head’ poems