SCHOOL is out for the summer! Here is a simple but touching little tale to mark the start of the holiday season. It is by George Bruce, and comes from the richly human compendium of his poetry, Today Tomorrow, containing the Fraserburgh-born man’s creative output from 1933 to 2000 (Polygon, £14.99 paperback).
FOLK: RESPONSIBILITIES
For Stephen Strachan
The little boy with the little drum
gave it the exact tap.
‘I tap it and I tap it,’
said the boy unsmiling
for the responsibility was great.
If the rat-tat-tat had not been
exact
on time
all
was lost.
He stood alone
before
the eight players of
Pencaitland Primary School Jazz Band.
The face of the boy listened
to the silences between
the beats.
When
all ended and the applause
broke the bonds of the band
he heard nothing of it.
His eyes stared in wonder
as his heart beat out
the exact
tap tap.
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