Archie and Tina
Where are you now,
Playmates of my childhood,
Brother and sister?

When we stayed in the same place
With Archie and Tina
At the seaside,
We used

To paddle the samphire beds, fish
Crabs from the sea-pool, poke
The anemones, run
Trailing the ribbon seaweed across the sand to the sea’s edge
To throw it in as far as we could. We dug
White bones of dead animals from the sandhills, found
The jaw-bones of a fox with some teeth in it, a stoat’s skull,
The hind leg of a hare.

Oh, if only; oh if only!

Archie and Tina
Had a dog called Bam. The silver-sand
Got in his long hair. He had
To be taken home.

Oh, if only…!

One day when the wind blew strong
Our dog, Boy, got earache. He had
To be taken home in a jersey.

Oh what a pleasure, what pleasure!
There were never so many poppies as there were then,
So much yellow corn so many fine days,
Such bright air, such seas.

Was it necessary that
Archie and Tina, Bam and Boy,
Should have been there too?
Yes, then it was. But to say now:

Where are you today
Archie and Tina
Playmates of my childhood,
Brother and sister? Is no more than
   to say:

I remember
Such pleasure, so much pleasure.