Staring out at me over a gulf of sixty years,

Your glassy-eyed optimism, born of NHS specs

Your staid gaiety in checked dresses

Bunting fashioned from austerity

Displayed in glorious mono, black and white

Jostling just to have self-created fun

And celebrate a distant Queen you’ll never see.

 

How perfectly the instant caught you

Spots on the negative though

“Mam! There’s a man wi’ a camera!”

One-sixtieth of a second, frozen

Forever, in a rare tableau of enjoyment.

 

What happened to you all? I wonder, I

Know what happened to your houses, flattened, every one;

But what became of you? Some died, some married,

Some with us still. I hope it all worked out

The way you always wanted, whatever.

Though, sadly, I suspect that it did not.

 

Cakes and lemonade on trestle tables,

Union Jacks , ham sandwiches

And maybe cakes from Skelton’s.

Simple days, when we all knew our place,

Knew who the bad guys were, and

The Lone Ranger always wore a white hat;

Amusing yourselves with home-baked treats

And waving flags, to show you trust the future.

 

Once my neighbours, now my strangers,

Your dreams, as yet, are un-Gagarined by Sputniks

I only recognise you generically;

I have no idea what your names are,

What your lovers called you,

What your gravestone says…but

 

I wish your spirit still haunted the streets

Reliving your cheery communal joy

In this enigmatic image.

 

A day off school! You shout hooray!

Although you look so happy in the close,

Why do I feel so sad for you, today?