Long Lesson Poem by Barry Middleton

Some man's future lover,
in ribboned pigtail curls,
and out to walk her brother
in the world of little girls,
came down the walk and singing,
not what the world was bringing,
but carefree childish songs
that did not say how long
the lesson for today
would take to have its say.
A boy and girl together,
to test the springtime weather
in innocence and play,
will come another day,
and others without end,
to try and understand
whatever love demands.
The little boy, whose heart
will break before he calls
himself a man, the girl,
who trades her youth for love,
her life in growing closer
to that which birth denied her,
the other one beside her.