Helen Lyttelton (Rangi Ruru Girls' School, Christchurch)
Cards
I
We are playing cards.
I hold myself back,
feeling for the right moment
to end the game.
I grip my set in a fan by my heart
so you can't see,
though you never cheat.
II
I remember that bright-grey day
in the park.
I thought the sky
was on the brink of something.
A storm, perhaps,
or a heavenly announcement.
Unfolding my austere umbrella,
I scooped up a brown bundle
of leaves&srquo;
carefully, because you never know
what might be underneath.
Clutching them,
I watched you toss your own
bright curling leaves
into the wind
and you danced around
as they fell and stuck in your hair.
