The village was vivid….
daily with its laughter
cream, chocolate and the fruits
of long summer days….
There were cricket matches
ale yards and tomfoolery
and girls in dresses
sewn from life fabric
the kind you dance in
remove to bring children in
bring children up
make children tidy and clean
and helpful
Then squat and beetly
Dudgeon came along.
“Hi Dudgeon” , we all said
and his reply
an arrogant petulance
without love or Toblerone
or chuckle in a sleeve
chilled us
we all agreed it was
not just high dudgeon
but dudgeon of such altitude
we’d have needed
the oxygen of publicity
the crampons of spin
to get near him
so we left him
up there
where the air
is thin