The Threshold
I went to primary school in Lewisham, a borough of London,
And my school was divided into three playgrounds.
This was important.
The upper playground was reserved for Years 3 to 6;
So distant, it hardly bears addressing, that alien field.
The middle, with the climbing frame, was for Years 1 and 2
(Climbing frames are suitable only from the ages of five to seven),
And the lower was solely for Reception, the youngest cohort.
This too was important.
Between the lower and the middle playgrounds,
There was a gargantuan, bicompartmental hut.
Either open-sided section faced one of the playgrounds
And there was a doorway on the threshold of the two.
I was in Reception; I was four, and that middle playground
Seemed a lurid paradise where inscrutable giants danced.
An unthinkable place, outlined, coloured and shaded by word-of-mouth,
Cartographed by those lucky adventurers chaperoned through
For sickness or injury towards the office for collection.
To know there was a culture, a country, an ecosystem
As complex, if not more so, than ours, just past that doorway.
That ground should not be trodden by those of our station.
This was very important.
I, somewhat precocious, and noticing a teacher distracted,
Journeyed alone to the unassuming threshold.
Somehow, I had never seen one of my peers travel this close.
The huts housed benches, and we’d always sit far from the door,
Though this was out of instinct, not fear or obligation.
I was underwhelmed, but overhearing arcane conversation
And the games of the gods, I stepped through the barrier.
I was stopped, by a boy who in my mind is not a boy.
I cannot conceive of him in any other way than as my senior
And as such he is a man of about twenty-five.
He does not take a firm shape, but his voice was low
With a certainty and a firmness I couldn’t question.
His command of speech and of the laws of the land
Was almost too advanced for me to comprehend.
By his tone and the way he stood astride the doorway,
I knew myself unwelcome, and I walked away without a word.
By his tone and the way he stood astride the doorway,
I understood.
That was important.
