Holiday Time *
The creaky gate is
Silent now
From the swinging children
Who had entered
In to retrieve
That out-bounded ball.
No more sandwiches slip
Between the mesh of the fence.
Parents, pressed and stressed,
Do not stride upon
The asphalt that
Has borne the same kind of cargo
For decades.
Teachers no longer
Stand sentinel
As students file out to
Awaiting family cars.
School yard comes to rest,
It’s holiday time.
* Holiday time would be described as vacation in some cultures.
Simon C.J. Falk 24 September 2016