I bought a toy for boredom's sake
The colours, hues of something new
The fascination in its wake
The fiddling hours a task to do

And with new knowledge I escaped
The bonds of nervousness the games
The mind can play when left uncaped
By blinkers of distraction's fame

And hours of solitudal joy
I played away opression's shroud
With time upon a fiddler's toy
A muse to lift the lonely cloud

Until the day called out its task
And hardened work became my due
The pleasure of distractions mask
Was left for pressing things to do
 
 

Ian Kerridge  1995               back to Poetry Index