dennis scharnberg

The Terra-Bessie

I met a girl with hair quite red

She asked me over to tea

Her mother toasted, then buttered the bread

The daughter served it to me

We sat together and sometimes I read

And passed the time gaily till three

When I turned to her (with many things said)

And she shared her kisses with me

[schoolboy poem, age 14]

Dennis Dryden, The Shorter Poems.