Foil

[Wjames]

I knew a girl
who played with emotion,
colouring rainbows and hopscotch
on the school’s black tar pavement.
 
I was always running,
kicking up dust clouds that smudged
her work, dirtying the clothes
my mother bought
for picture day.
 
One recess,
I made her an aluminium necklace;
a scraggly silver apology
wrapped ‘round a frayed
length of twine.
 
She smiled, and I ran off
throwing stones with my friends.