In the Colosseum

We entered the Colosseum through the Gladiators Gate -

Our guide was called Daniel -

We kept close to him, threading our way through the murmuring crowd - 

Mighty columns supported a cruel circle of stone - 

We saw the labyrinth which had been hidden beneath the sand - 

Dark dens had voided wild beasts -

Sharp iron had pierced flesh and severed bone -

Those men, women, children killed here were beyond all counting - 

Despite the crowd, the laughter and the smartphones, I could feel their anguish - 

Even now, with so many names forgotten, they were still here, invisible, mute, amongst us - 

We followed Daniel to the high galleries -

I heard the echoes of hungry voices -

Above us the sky was a pale ancient blue -

 

The Colosseum, Rome

April 2025

At the Farnese Gardens

In the Farnese gardens there was birdsong - 

Sunlight fell on mannered greenery - 

There were cypress trees, paths trod by exquisite ghosts -

Water fell into a fountain - 

I looked out from a terrace across the city - 

I saw its churches, palaces, towers - 

Its broken columns, arches white as bone - 

The long memory of its ancient heart - 

Farnese Gardens, Rome

April 2025

Every morning

 The house had arched windows and thick walls -

There was a courtyard like a deep well - 

Tangled greenery, a square of sky -

A spiral staircase led upwards from the hallway - 

Every morning, Sophie would open the door to the street with a delicate key - 

All would be silent - 

Wallace would kick his football past a drowsy waiter putting out chairs -

We would walk towards the river - 

Sophie and I would eat almond croissants in the Bar Meccanismo -

The Japanese waitress would bring us coffee - 

Wallace would ask for pancakes glorious with honey - 

The patron with his hooded eyes woud smile his patron's smile - 

Trastevere, Rome

April 2025

The promise of wonder

When I woke, Sophie and Wallace were still inside their dreams - 

I looked up at the high ceiling - 

It was the day after my birthday - 

I felt a gentle sadness - 

I had been born on a Good Friday -

I wondered how many more Good Fridays I would see -

How many more of Sophie's birthdays - 

How many more of Wallace's birthdays -

I closed my eyes to hear soft footsteps - 

Sophie opened the shutters -

She flung wide the arched windows -

I breathed the air of a city rich with names, steeped in longing - 

My gentle sadness stole away - 

Sunlight and the promise of wonder filled the room -

53 Vicolo dei Panieri, Trastevere, Rome

April 2025

Walking back to the Vicolo dei Panieri

Walking back to the Vicolo dei Panieri, rain fell on umbrellas and black cobbles - 

We threaded our way past the Bar Ayahuasca in the Vicolo del Cinque -

Voices and light spilled out of crowded osterias - 

Dizzying bottles gleamed in wine shops - 

We read strange graffiti on ancient walls - 

Trastevere, Rome

Apeil 2024

In the Piazza Trilusa

 In the Piazza Trilusa we'd seen acrobats - 

Lithe young Africans, leaping upon each other's shoulders -

One of their company drumming - 

Flames pouring from a fire eater's mouth - 

We'd sat upon the steps of the fountain - 

The three of us, amongst the joyous youth - 

Trastevere, Rome

April 2025

On the Ponte Sisto

At three in the morning, I remembered Rome -

I'd walked with my darlings on the Ponte Sisto -

Crossing the river at night on a ribbon of stone - 

There were musicians - 

We heard their languid smoky jazz - 

Dark water flowed beneath us to Castel Sant'Angelo - 

Lamplight glimmered on the current - 

I wore my coat of years, woven from memory - 

Trastevere, Rome

April 2025

A bright eyed raguzzo

Wallace clasped the football he'd bought in the Piazza Trilussa -

Danced over the cobbles - 

A bright eyed raguzzo -

We'd heard salsa on the Ponte Sisto -

Soft rain fell - 

Trastevere

Rome

April 2025

Sophie wore her shining hair

I felt as though I were still above the clouds -

Wallace had seen another jet, lost in the blueness of the sky -

Now he ate a noble gelato -

Sophie wore her shining hair -

Travestere 

Rome

April 2025

One hundred and eighty

Wallace throws his darts - 

His eye is true -

He smiles - 

Turns to look at me - 

Mimics a fleshy champion of the oche - 

One hundred and eighty ! -

Number 53 Royal Avenue

Scarborough 

February 2025

A different sky

Anne and Sophie sipped coffee in Thackwray and Greensmith - 

Shared secrets -

I was back in the North - 

Under a different sky -

Scarborough 

February 2025

Cast up

We were soon swallowed by the airport maelstrom -

Led by our guide past yawning officials -

Cast up, at last, before our Gate - 

Cairo Airport 

February 

The last morning

The last morning -

Hearing the wind in the palm trees -

Walking barefoot by a silver sea -

Sharm el Sheikh 

February 2024

I walked there still

The gentle Syrian put down his scissors -

Happy he asked -

I looked at myself in the mirror -

I remembered Egypt -

The ancient sky -

The stars above the sand - 

I walked there still -

Yes I said -

Wareham

April 2025

There were wonders

There were wonders here -

The boy's beautiful golden mask -

The serene face of a god king -

A chariot light as air -

National Museum 

Cairo

February 2025

Dust on the rear window of a car

There had been shining villas -

The Military Academy -

Posters of the General lining the boulevards -

Here, there was a boy -

His apples -

Dust on the rear window of a car -

Cairo 

February 2025

A gulf of time

Walking past the camel drivers -

Their crouching beasts -

Hearing so many voices -

I stole away -

I stood before a gulf of time -

Reached out for what I knew I could never touch -

The Pyramids 

Cairo 

February 2025.

Being a milord

For one hour I was a milord -

There was dazzling linen, a girl with kohl rimmed eyes -

Waiters moved noiselessly - 

The Nile flowed beneath us -

Floating restaurant on the Nile

Cairo

February 2025

Cairo Policeman

He lounged against sleek metal -

Swept the street with his indifferent gaze - 

We felt the chill of those unblinking eyes - 

Traffic flowed past an opulent hotel - 

Cairo 

February 2025

The feast

Before dark we had our feast -

A vegetable tagine as hot as lava -

Rice as yellow as the sun - 

Bedu camp

One hour's drive from Sharm el Sheikh 

February 2025

Above the emptiness

A thin boy guided our camels across the sand -

We left the bedu camp -

There were barren hills, a single ancient tree -

We wore shemaghs, half masking our faces -

I stroked the coarse pelt of my camel's neck - 

Above the emptiness was the sky -

It was mid afternoon - 

The boy had dark sad eyes -

He turned to look at us, holding out his hand for small coins -

One hour's drive from Sharm el Sheikh 

February 2025

Hani

I'll remember Hani -

This canny scholar - 

His smile - 

His knowledge of the trickery of the streets - 

Of the names of the Pharoahs - 

Of the contents of Canopic Jars -

Of the ways of the Police - 

How he guided us past the wiles of the vendors - 

Bargained with the chief of the camel drivers - 

Showed us the wonders of his city - 

Only asked to be remembered -

Cairo

February 2025

Khufu

His face -

That of a god king -

Like an exquisite jewel, set in silence and light - 

National Museum 

Cairo

February 2025

This narrow doorway

This narrow doorway - 

Beyond it, the stifling  corridor - 

The vast weight of time -

The Great Pyramid

Cairo

February 2025

So many windows

I'd seen them from the sky -

The high rises - 

Now we drove past them - 

These eyries for a gentle people - 

I felt the weight of all their souls - 

Their words were on my tongue -

So many windows -

I could not count them -

Cairo

February 2025

Red Chrevolet driver

A glimpse of a thin brown figure - 

Like a twist of tarry rope in the cab of the Chrevolet -

The crumpled stalk of a cigarette between his lips - 

The steering wheel juddering in his hands - 

Cairo 

February 2025

As though I were flying from Casablanca

I saw the shadow of the propeller on the runway -

It was early morning -

I looked at my visa -

It was as though I were flying from Casablanca -

Sharm el Sheikh Airport

February 2025

Yella, yella

His deft hands steering us -

Ibrahim wearing his sunglasses like a chief of police -

Downtown Cairo -

Seething traffic -

The evening crowd in the pavement cafes -

Night falling -

Black coffee by the side of the road -

Yella, yella -

Cairo

February 2025

A winter's dress

We sip iced coffees -

Walk barefoot on newly raked sand -

I read some pages of The Go Between -

Anne slips off a winter's dress -

Sharm el Sheikh 

February 2025

A slender mast

The sun setting -

Glorious light on the darkening river -

A slender mast touching an ancient sky -

The Nile

Cairo

February 2025

The first morning

The first morning -

My faux panama -

Orange juice after cappuccinos -

Warm sunlight on marble -

Looking out towards the sea -

The wind from the desert in my hair -

Sharm el Sheikh 

February 2025

 

Being mute with wonder

How to recall this moment -

Being mute with wonder -

The flawless sky -

The serenity of that timeless gaze -

The Sphinx

Cairo 

February 2025

Mother of the world

I have a new city of dream and memory -

I saw it from the sky -

Gods had sailed on its river -

Um al-dunya -

Mother of the world -

Cairo from the air

February 2025

Three jewels of memory

Looking into the eyepiece of the telescope - 

There, in the serene depths -

Seeing three planets, our eyes guided by the stargazer -

Three jewels of memory in the desert sky -

February 2025

Near Sharm el Sheik 

The last week of winter

We heard the Simoom all night -

This was the last week of winter -

The tall palm trees bowed before the wind -

There were white horses on the dark blue dazzle of the sea - 

Sharm el Sheikh 

February 2025