Playtime in an English Meadow

Girl and boy
Gathering buttercups
Running hither and thither
‘Look, look at these
Stop, standstill.’
Boy holds large buttercup under girl’s chin
Catches shimmering sunlight in iridescent cup
It reflects on her throat,
‘Yes, yes you like butter.
‘Let’s find a four-leafed clover’.
Running bending plucking
‘I’ve found one. I’ve found one.’
‘Oh no. Oh no.’
Over and over.

‘One o’clock, two o’clock.’
Scattering seeds float up, up and away.
‘Three o’clock, four o’clock’.
They drift high into the sky
‘Five o’clock, six o’clock’.
‘Look, oh look at mine’.
‘Over there, white clovers.
You can get milk from white clovers’.
They place them gingerly in their mouths
Then wrinkle freckled noses
‘Agh, agh’.
They fall rolling in the grass
Laughing with utter delight.

They lie listening
Melodious, meadow music surrounds them
Unseen insects sing soprano
Contralto and alto from birds and small mammals
Bees provide the drone
Basso profundo from the big beast beyond the hawthorn
Moo-oo-oo- Moo-oo-oo

An unwanted voice interrupts
‘It’s bedtime’.
They didn’t want bedtime
They had found eternity.