Work

Names – come and go
and
apart from the safe, utilitarian, the boring :
John, Peter, Mary, Sue
mark an era or epoch
the rise of royalty, the fall of faith.
He was the only Lionel I ever knew,
a name on deathrow
disappearing from birth lexicon as he came into being.
The Lionel talking to the TV interviewer was
greying and receding – but definitely him.

Cut to
2 students vacation jobbing as farm labourers
both on the threshold
status: amorphous
no longer adolescent, not quite adult
no longer university
not yet career-ed –
the days of heaven.
Golden weather, decent pay, a good boss
hard work, physical, over in eight hours, the rest ours.
Mateship and ribaldry – keeping an eye on each other
and watching backs.
Cut back
a sombre man, burdened and wearied down
talking slowly
announcing the closure, and loss of 200 jobs.