Sue Devine

The gentle rain on window pane
Reminds me of one summer.
My song not sung, for I was young,
More active and much slimmer.

When at all the sun did shine
I'd play outside with Sue Devine.
Her golden hair the colour of corn
Fell down her back, 'twas loosely worn.

When her birthday came around
I bought her chocolate teddies.
At her party she would devour them
As well as gold and silver pennies.

All the boys would like to kiss her,
But when she had gone would hardly miss her.
She'd pick upon a willing victim
Then cuddle and squeeze and nearly kill him.

On the swings she'd show some knicker
Then you'd hear the little boys snigger.
Martin and Tommy were always around,
But for 'rithmetic and reading could never be found.

Some of us thought - oh how easy
To pass our tests without being greasy,
But when it came to the eleven-plus
It turned out that it divided us.

Then we knew our teacher was bias,
Preferring Marion and Miriam Myers.
She'd pushed them through with such a shove,
They almost reached the heavens above.

But then we all should well have known
That her true colours were rarely shown.
All the time she was ambitious,
But Governor Myers was not suspicious.

Appointed to her cherished headship
Her school became a model.
And munching through so many cream cakes
Her life was just a doddle.

But in the end she choked on biscuit,
I'll never know why she did risk it,
But juggling with those falsy teeth
A Rich Tea got right underneath.

And in July of that sweet summer
I sometimes felt a trifle dumber
Than Sue Devine who had passed the test
And loved me more than all the rest.

The test I'd failed, but she would not snub me,
She always waved - was always bubbly.
She stayed so close to my true heart,
In dreams of love we were never to part.