There's a boy across the river with short black curly hair, he wants to be my lover and I want to be his peer. There's a boy across the river but alas I cannot swim. I never will get to put my arms around him.
"Let's walk home over the bridge today." Wendla rolled her eyes; she was walking alone with Thea. "Oh come on, Wendla, please?" The sun was shining, and it was Saturday; the two girls were walking home from market, baskets full of flowers and fruit. "Our Mama's said we didn't have to rush home.." She tugged on her hand, and Wendla rolled her eyes.
"Fine. Just for half an hour, I have arithmetic to do and we still haven't learnt the song for choir tomorrow-"
"Oh, you worry too much. Let's go!" Thea started to run, the contents of her basket jumping up and down. Wendla laughed and joined her, enjoying the thump-thump-thump of the apples against the wicker and the beat of the sun on her hair.
The water was glistening, and the pair sat on the bank, both eating apples. Thea lazily braided Wendla's loose hair, quietly observing her flawless skin and clear eyes, trying not to feel jealous of the girl she loved like sister.
Just as they had finished their apples, they heard distant chatter. They looked at each other, Thea's eyes shining slightly. Wendla leant forward and hissed at her "Oh I wonder why you wanted to come to the river!" She was smiling though; she loved the company of the boys, and she rarely saw them now they were older. Melchior and Moritz were approaching the river bank on the other side,
"But Melchi-" The two boys' conversation came to an aprubt stop when they saw the two girls. They were carrying a small raft between them, and were barefoot, trousers rolled up. Moritz blushed, right to the tip of his ears. Melchior smiled and waved. Thea waved back enthusiastically and Wendla merely grinned at him.
Wendla couldn't help notice, when Moritz and Melchi put the raft in the river, how they had grown. Moritz was still a little short and awkward, but Melchi was almost unrecognisable; the small delicate body she had spent so many hours tickling and being pinned to the ground by had changed; now there were strong arms and manly legs, with the slightest sprinkling of dark, curly hair. It made her stomach flutter just thinking about it.
"Thea, I have to go now; mama will worry." Thea reluctantly tore her eyes away and nodded. They yelled their goodbyes to the boys on the river and walked back the way they had come.
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There's a house across the river, but alas, I cannot swim, and a garden of such beauty that the flowers seem to grin. There's a house across the river, but alas, I cannot swim. I'll live my life regretting that I never jumped in
It was almost a year later, and Wendla had forgotten about that day by the river. Mama had sent her out of the house while she made may wine, so she decided to go and gather some woodrush as a surprise. And there he was – even more masculine than last time, properly matured now. When he smiled at her, she felt weak; hungry.
When he touched her, her heart skipped a beat. And in that dusty, dark hayloft, her fate was sealed. When his lips touched hers she felt surrender within her. And when he loved her; her life was complete.
There's a life across the river that was meant for me, instead I live my life in constant misery, there's a life across the river but I do not see, why I should please those that will never be pleased
