I found out recently that Ray Milland, the Hollywood actor, for three years attended the same primary school as my youngest daughter. He is best known for Dial M for Murder, The Lost Weekend and The Premature Burial. And this.
The Man With the X-ray Eyes
A three-year exile, far from home.
Lodged in auntie’s pub,
each day to school beside the churchyard,
hurrying past the broken teeth
of generational stones.
Yawning pits and the promise
of a premature burial.
Three years to learn how
to lose one weekend.
That was the one.
Poyser Street to West 42nd and 7th
in one easy draught.
Drinking up time; heaven knows
it slips down so easily.
Entombed in red and grey,
Ruabon brick and Bethesda slate.
Look and see right through.
The walls seem so thin, just
vapour and light.
Though chalk dust and ink stains
cling for all time.
Looking through,
looking forward and looking back;
these x-ray eyes
see nothing, understand less
and remember all.
And if thine eye offend thee.
