Highwayman Coat
Wide collar, deep cuffs conceal
a person of mystery.
Dark, secretive, in disguise.
Narrow waisted, bold shouldered.
Darth Vader, Jack Sparrow,
Highwayman of the apocalypse.
I remember my headmaster,
Sweeping along corridors, his academic
gown commanding fear and dread.
Master of the paso doble,
I swirl my cape like a bullfighter.
Black knight in a game of chess.
I wonder about its history.
Who owned the coat before me,
Before I claimed, cut, tamed it to fit
my sixteen year old frame.
The wearer is assertive, imposing, providing
opportunity to be someone I am not.
Was that me?
When school boys jostled, teased.
Retaliated calmly, crushing
their boater under my foot.
That coat had further lives to free.
I think of it and wish it still had me.
