And Starlight Most of All ©

Wooden swords and barking dogs
There was war on every side
The skyline lay beyond your eyes
But my attention was enrapt
I could hear the troops approach
And I knew I’d have to act
So I said that you looked lovely
In your yellow cardigan
And prepared for your attack
As sparks of blue flashed back
“Who do you think you are?”, you asked,
“Speaking to me like that.”
And a soldier brave
Came to my defence
To excuse my lack of tact
And my heartfelt compliment
And as the battle raged around us
You glanced sideways at me once
Then glanced away before
I caught you glancing back.

And so we started out my love
When we were barely ten
And I’m not ashamed to say it now
You had the better of me then

At summer’s end in sixty five
They dragged us back to school
And this time you and I dear
Were seated side by side
No more combat hand to hand
It would all be page and pen
In the feud of daily testing
Your battle plan was simply
To beat me as and when
And every time you pulled it off
You’d jump up looking proud

But the seasons turned and a softening mood
Fell gently in between
And blue eyes once so scornful
Sparkled the occasional hint
Of something sweet and sharing,
Strengthening within me
A sensational sense of change
The world I’d known became
Woven through with wonder,
And starlight, most of all
Was utterly transformed
Every silver glistening point
Now sent so sweetly down
An incomparable thrill
To bind this heart to yours
Through all the nights of our lives
As head over heels I fell
And took to blushing and stuttering
When you were near at hand

By the spring of sixty six
We practised jousting tenderly
On a board of Sycamore green
With well worn wooden bats
And a small white plastic ball.
We’d gaze into each other’s eyes
In rallies without end
As that delicate ball
Blurred back and forth
Between two hearts entwined
Until the spell was broken
By the end-of-lunchtime bell