For a while I was the naive hero of a bildungsroman ...

There are a few Christmas cards now on the window sill - 

I'm using a card for a bookmark whilst reading Lord Rochester's Monkey - 

My friend Richard has no time for Christmas - 

He'll be perfecting a villanelle in The Leopold - 

Once I spent a Christmas Eve in Winchester - 

Annick had a small Christmas Tree in her bedsit - 

We'd spent fragile notes in The Wykeham Arms -  

I lolled in the only armchair, watching Annick roll a cigarette - 

For a while I was the naive hero of a bildungsroman - 

There I was, tipsy and laughing, about to hear an outrageous confidence, an innocent beguiled - 

17.12

Thursday 15 December 2016

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset