GRACE

[Neville Briggs]

GRACE

I did my best in 1955.
I finished up at first place in the class;
an honour that I shared with gentle Grace.
I wasn't thrilled that Grace was equal first
for she was really quite an ugly girl
with pale insipid face and stringy curls.

I have a photo of the class that year,
and I am in the middle row with Grace;
her pretty hair around her lovely face.
And up the back, a girl I thought some beauty
who never seemed to want to notice me.

[Heather]

There's a lot said in that short poem Neville. Got me thinking. Thanks.

Heather

[Neville Briggs]

Thanks Matt ( Frysie ? ) Thanks Heather. In old age you hope to get some wisdom, if you manage it then you realise how stupid you have been.

[Heather]

Neville, the reply I didn't write was that age, hindsight and experience brings wisdom. (Well we can only hope).

[Zondrae]

G'day Neville,

I wonder what happened to Grace. We plain girls often have hidden talents and turn out to be a far better prospect than the 'beauty'. Do you know the song 'At Seventeen'? Makes one stop and think.... really think how we treated (or were treated by) our peers when we were younger. I wonder where some of us (them) are now. I attended a 50 year reunion of my high school class on Saturday.
I don't think any of them have had as interesting and exciting life as I have had, and I was one who was never called when choosing teams for anything.
Nice little poem but leaves one wanting more.

[Neville Briggs]

There is no more Zondrae. I have to leave room for your thoughts. ( are you sure Grace was plain ? )
Sorry I don't know the song " At Seventeen "

Zondrae, I wonder too about those I once knew.
I only know a bit about two of the others in my 1955 photo. One of the girls, Valerie, married a hooligan school mate of mine. She trained him to become a respectable banker and church goer

And there was a boy in that class (who was in all my classes up to the end of high school ) His name was Richard Singleton. I have reason to believe now that he is a descendant of Benjamin Singleton who pioneered the Hunter Valley area known as Patrick Plains and the town of Singleton round about 1820. I haven't managed to catch up with Richard.


Yes Heather. And there's a bit of poetry in it for us, we hope

[Terry]

Yes I often wonder along those same lines Neville, not that I can remember finishing top of the class.
Remember getting the cuts (cane) though and often.

Terry

[Neville Briggs]

Oh dear Terry, you could never be top of the class if you didn't know how to avoid being caught.

[r.magnay]

...Terry, looks like you and I have more in common than our love of the bush and our ties to the opal game.........I did manage to dodge a lot, but I reckon I was till top of my class when it came to getting the cuts!......

[Stephen Whiteside]

Ugly in the first verse. Pretty in the second. Why don't you write a third verse, Neville, and make it 'best out of three' for something?