Girls were just girls

just like us, the boys, only

with the knowledge

that they were better in the class room

than most of us in trousers, even

at eight, somehow more acute, articulate,

annoying but we had grown up

with each one of them

and in the school playground,

we at least could at least be heroes

with the ball at our feet, even if we felt

foolish in the classroom, our conversations

about the beautiful

game muted by constant spelling tests,

who cared how you spelt suspicious ,