Baker Boy Poem by Charlotte Peters Rock

In the only way he knows
a leather Baker Boy clapped tight
across his vulnerable head
a beard to prove perhaps
he can grow hair

Oh that's unfair!

Perhaps his beard is part of life
As a painter surely he would need a beard
in case the brushes need some help?
Or to keep him warm
inside his starving garret?
Or - in lieu of sheep - to use
to knit a jumper?

Was it a sheep that laid its life down
to produce the Baker Boy?
Was it knitting up its wool
to make his jumper
as it `went'
bleating 'Tis a far far better thing I knit..? '


30Jan1996