As though his hair was still a splendid mane -
As though he were wearing stripy trousers -
Red Converses -
All those years still to be lived -
Those long summers -
Throwing darts -
Harveys in the sunlit bar -
The house on Albion Hill -
Russell lighting up a Marlboro -
The foxed Master and Margarita -
The waves breaking on the stones -
Morrison singing She lives on Love Street -
The last notes of The Firebird -
All this, in those first words, ringing Jay -
Both of us grandfathers -
*