For Penny Abraham
I wish I had Audens penchant
For going about in carpet slippers
Or the late HRH Margarets panache-
A chauffered Rolls with six outriders-
This late December day with its sparkle of sun on frost
Id so much rather be in Haworths cobbled street
With cascades of carols in torchlit procession
Or still better with a passionate friend to make love to
By Penistone Crags and then sit in post-coital bliss
In the tea-room, reading Claudel in whispers,
And not as I was, heading for Camdens
December Trust Board Meeting, of which Im not a member
But a regular attender, watching the watchers
At a comfortable distance, hoping to hear democracys arrthymia.