Clandestine

BIFOCAL UNIVISION

http://bifocalunivision.blogspot.com

supplied the illustration

CLANDESTINE

Your husband and my wife are both at home in bed.

And how we love our early-morning walk!

I saw you on the beach over a year ago

And it wasn't long before we stopped to talk.

At first it was all innocent; we walked briskly, on the beach,

Discussing work and hobbies and the weather.

I was finding Elsie dreary; you were heartily sick of Tom;

It was natural that we both felt drawn together.

But then our friendship changed to a deeper sort of feeling,

And now we've started having an affair!

We've been taking lots of chances, meeting secretly in hotels

And we're certain that it's true love that we share.

So far we've kept our secret; Tom and Elsie still know nothing;

The two of them lie snoring in their beds!

And the thought of illicit passion is something they'd not dream of!

They're so dull it wouldn't enter in their heads!

Watch out! That chap with the camera is pointing in our direction!

He's pretending that he's filming the morning sun.

But I bet he's a detective, employed by Tom and Elsie!

I think that we've been rumbled! Come on! Run!

*

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DESERTED

It was the last thing I saw

As the paddy-wagon drove away,

With me in the back!

*

The red vase.

*

The trees were smaller then.

We had picked roses together

Only that morning.

Both of us knew

We were on borrowed time.

*

She had known of my criminal past

From the start.

But she had loved me in spite of it.

We thought we were safe.

*

The radio shattered our lives.

*

'The authorities

Hope to apprehend the criminal

Any day now'.

*

We knew we were on borrowed time.

So we picked roses.

They looked splendid in the red vase

On the window-sill.

They were the last thing I saw.

*

Now I have returned.

The stucco has faded to a paler pink.

The trees have grown to surround the house.

The bright red vase

Still stands on the window-sill.

*

But the roses have gone.

*

 And so has she.

*
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