Desaparecidos

Voyageurs sans bagages,

(overnight learning’s very light),
they took their exams
through customs,
and then they were off
to a new land.
 
Their resistance
had become too studied,
revolt was too passé.
The new look was
‘The Last of England’,
the photogenic pose
of ‘doomed youth.’
 

The mime was definitely

‘fin de sixth’ -

the way they said
goodbye and thank you,
without making a sound,
to their teachers,
(consolidating complicity),
and to the headmaster,
two-fingered,
and one year less

to carry the blame.

.