I <br />This is a schoolyard <br />crowded <br />with children <br /> <br />of all ages near a village <br />on a small stream <br />meandering by <br /> <br />where some boys <br />are swimming <br />bare-ass <br /> <br />or climbing a tree in leaf <br />everything <br />is motion <br /> <br />elder women are looking <br />after the small <br />fry <br /> <br />a play wedding a <br />christening <br />nearby one leans <br /> <br />hollering <br />into <br />an empty hogshead <br /> <br />II <br /> <br />Little girls <br />whirling their skirts about <br />until they stand out flat <br /> <br />tops pinwheels <br />to run in the wind with <br />or a toy in 3 tiers to spin <br /> <br />with a piece <br />of twine to make it go <br />blindman's-buff follow the <br /> <br />leader stilts <br />high and low tipcat jacks <br />bowls hanging by the knees <br /> <br />standing on your head <br />run the gauntlet <br />a dozen on their backs <br /> <br />feet together kicking <br />through which a boy must pass <br />roll the hoop or a <br /> <br />construction <br />made of bricks <br />some mason has abandoned <br /> <br />III <br /> <br />The desperate toys <br />of children <br />their <br /> <br />imagination equilibrium <br />and rocks <br />which are to be <br /> <br />found <br />everywhere <br />and games to drag <br /> <br />the other down <br />blindfold <br />to make use of <br /> <br />a swinging <br />weight <br />with which <br /> <br />at random <br />to bash in the <br />heads about <br /> <br />them <br />Brueghel saw it all <br />and with his grim <br /> <br />humor faithfully <br />recorded <br />it.<br /><br />William Carlos Williams<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/children-s-games-2/
