It’s a Swinging Life

 

Come on a windy night and you’ll find me

Slammed against my mate.  We are

        Inseparable.

        In cracked duet

We creak, the gust tugging our chains,

Rocked, ridden by unseen ghosts.

 

Daytimes, I’m busy, dizzy sometimes

Watching the roundabout whirl; steadied

        When mothers push

        Small children who

Can’t be left alone, in rhythmic motion

As if tilting them to settled sleep.

 

Ten year olds jostle, shove, reclaim me,

Their light seats scarcely touching mine

        As they fly

        High, up high,

Their voices shrill with the thrill that spreads before them

As they sense the giddying soar of their life ahead.

 

Evening falls, and we shudder, awaiting

A lurching battery – bottles and boys,

        Crueller, clumsier

        Than the wind.

As I groan under a bloated weight,

His girlfriend fixes her lipstick astride my mate.