THE RED BELLYBAND
by DFL
A simple man left his country cottage to see his field is furrowed. Across the inserted hedge he saw his fellow men, rows of varicoloured bellybands to glint the sun from.
He tightened his own red bandalero to get dug in, for the day was as short as the night was leper long.
Browntanned faces greeted this newcomer as they leant on spade crutches, alive to the murmur of the earth.
Then, clamped in their Tolstoy rhythm, they swerved to the earth’s flow beneath them. Their tools clawed at the skin that crumbled thus.
Little did they know but a trove of bellybands would be dug up in sixty seconds.
(published ‘The Old Police Station’ 1994)
Posted by nemonymous
at 11:13 AM BST
Updated: Monday, 10 March 2008 11:14 AM BST
