School Photograph

That's John who won the Ashes
     with his six for fifty-three.
That's Paul, the famous writer,
     Chris, lawyer and M P,
and Pete who made a million
     by the age of twenty-three.

And, clowning in the back row
for the camera, that one's me.

But time calls “Time” on friendships
     and now there's only me -
still clowning in the back row,
     still wondering what I'll be
next year, perhaps, if I grow up
     when I reach sixty-three.

Martin Parker

If you have any thoughts on this poem, Martin Parker  would be pleased to hear them.