Silhouetted by the dawn
The schoolboys shuffled and yawned
Muffled underfoot by blankets of snow
Observed by a solitary crow

Traipsing across those wintry fields
Me and my friends pretending to be ill
Then, wheeling away from school
The humour turned cruel

Platform soles of ice and mud
Blazers of fur caked in blood
In thicket dens on makeshift beds
Quarts of cider spinning heads

Faking intimacies with unobtainable girls
Inventing futures in an uncertain world
Like seeds on frozen soil the wind had blown
Who can reap what cannot be sown?

Others studied hard – stayed behind after class
Convinced a better life might lie within grasp
The relentless broadcasts in received pronunciation
Consolidating this indoctrination

But, over-educated to the point of stupidity
Many lost their spirit as well as their liberty
Faced with a future – to which my kind is consigned
I escaped with an empty head – but an open mind