Ex Patria

After supper, we move out on to the veranda.

Moths flit between lamps. We drink, think about sex

and consider how best to wreck each other’s lives.

At the river’s edge, the kitchen maids are washing up.

In the age-old tradition, they slap the plates

against the side of a rock, singing tonelessly.

Like tiny chauffeurs, the mosquitoes will soon arrive

and drive us home. O England, how I miss you.

Ascot, Henley, Wimbledon. It’s the little things.