Tuesday, 8 July 2025

The two coins forever falling


We stood before the fountain - 

Soft rain fell - 


I glimpsed noble bearded heads, heroic torsos -

A winged horse reared upwards -

Hooves pawed the air -

Water gushed over marble -


Wallace darted between the willowy Chinese girls -

He flung his coins into the basin of the fountain -

Deft, swift, sure -


He turned to face me, eyes shining -

Standing next to Sophie -

Both of them wet from the rain -


This moment in my heart -

My two darlings returning to the city -

The two coins forever falling, having known his hand - 


Rome

April 2025









Monday, 30 June 2025

At every turning




I counted the columns of the Temple -

Each one was pitted by time -


Like tall trees made of stone -

Marked by long winters -


At every turning in the city -

I walked with my two darlings amongst invisible people -


Past churches, palaces, broken colonnades -

Feeling the rain on our faces -


Walking towards the fountain -

When we, too, would become memory - 



Rome 
Temple of Hadrian


April 2025

Wednesday, 25 June 2025

At the Ristorante L' Arcano


We left the murmuring air of the Pantheon -

High above us, the dome had let in the sky -

In the Via dei Pastini I still heard the whispers of the city's gods -

We walked towards the Piazza di Pietra -

Wallace had two coins in his hand -

We sat for a while outside a sleek ristorante -

We felt the first drops of a soft rain -

Sophie wore yellow -

She charmed the waiter with her smile -

She and Wallace were the stars in my dark heavens -

My tongue was mute with love -


Rome 

April 2025


Thursday, 12 June 2025

Taken from a dream


It was still light when we landed -

The wings of the jet were pale wands -

The first stars glimmered above the terminal -

In the long snaky queues to the passport control I heard a boy say va bene -

We waited for the courtly ufficiale -

Sophie smiled her beautiful forgiving smile -

In the taxi, I sat behind the driver -

I closed my eyes, remembering clouds - 

It grew dark when we were on the autostrada -

We drove towards the city - 

Over the carriageway there were illuminated signs -

Ostia, Fuimicino, Roma -

Each wonderful name taken from a dream -


Approaching Rome

April 2025


Thursday, 5 June 2025

Wallace would always take my Queen


Wallace and I played chess in the white jet -

Whilst Wallace took my Queen we were flying over mountains -

Later we played in the house with arched windows - 

His dangerous Knight leapt over my stolid pawns - 

Each morning we played this noble game -

I would sip the espresso Wallace made for me - 

Sophie would butter a ciriola -

We would set out the pieces -

Wallace would always take my Queen - 


Travestere 
Rome 

April 2025

Sunday, 1 June 2025

Every night we ate pasta




Every night we ate pasta in a louche osteria - 

Sophie and I would drink aperol spritzers -

The louche darkness would fill the mazy alleys -

Beautiful ragged girls would wear skirts made of cobwebs -

Their lean tattooed boys would lounge on church steps -

Wallace would talk football with the ragazzo of a waiter -

Inside the osteria I'd see the doomed lobsters in their tank -

Jazzmen would play in the piazza -

Sophie and Wallace would play cards -

A pale moon would glimmer in the Trastevere sky -

Trastevere 
Rome

April 2025

Saturday, 31 May 2025

Even then I'd walked with angels



We walked between the pillars of Bernini's colonnade -

Great lamps, unlit, hung down above our heads -

The service was over -

Hundreds of chairs were still set out before the basilica -

A few nuns lingered in the piazza -

Clouds filled the sky -

Water gushed into a splendid fountain -

We saw a sculpture in sad bronze -

Migrants, refugees, those who ached with memory -

We saw their faces -

We felt the weight of their hearts -

The sculpture was called Angels Unawares -

I wondered how many angels had brushed against us since we woke -

How many were amongst those sad pilgrims -

Those who had lost all their darlings -

I remembered being in Paris with Sophie -

The words above a doorway in Shakespeare and Company -

The angels in Wings of Desire -

Their sorrow and love -

Cassiel leaning forward to hear some desperate thoughts -

The last time I'd been here, there'd been a cloudburst -

Boys had rushed our, shouting brellas, brellas -

Even then I'd walked with angels -

The air not filled with rain but love -


St Peter's
Rome 

April