You'll smile to remember the emerald basque, velvet
on my freckled skin, and yes my Titian hair, bright
as we sit, a chaste pair, on a bank of the Dodder
with our ploughman's lunch and black beer.
Often troubled by simpleton princes,
I fear a disturbance in the bushes
but on our balmy afternoon
we have no such visitation –

and you'd hardly notice it –
as we try to catch our shadows
on the passing flits of minnows.
In a moment our tongues will meet
like lovers' tongues, as the river throws
a hissy fit.

Patrick Chapman’s latest books are So Long, Napoleon Solo, a novella and Anhedonia, a collection of stories. A new collection of poems is due from Salmon in 2019