Pavement

• Lara Girgis, Grade 10
• Poetry
• 2018

In cold weather it's an icy path. The numbness spreads from feet to ankles. Legs are frigid as the breeze stiffens their bones. People feel stuck, frosty and unfeeling, on this glacial surface.

In warm weather it’s a stove on the highest setting. Heat radiates from its unforgiving face. It burns all barefooted soles as they tread on this desolate fry pan. The pain causes knee jerk reactions as travellers try to tread lightly.

In rainy weather, it becomes the ocean floor. Cracks, ditches and blemishes now fill with water. Soggy feet tramp uncomfortably over its surface, these are hurrying home. But for freer adventurers, puddles mean bare feet and splashing and laughter.

When the weather is warm but not hot, when there's a breeze but no chill, with clouds in the sky but no rain in the air, then, many feet are companions, journeying over its surface. Though sometimes its hidden by gum nuts and leaves, it remains a solid floor.

As time goes on bare feet become like the pavement, thick skinned and hard, prepared for all weathers. It teaches them survival, through the pain and the puddles they became tough.