Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

Poetry Library Southbank Centre - The Poetry Library housing the Arts Council Collection at Southbank Centre

« Previous item
Contents of this issue
Next item »

Matthew Sweeney

print this page

Sipping Frascati in Castel Gandolfo

Arriving by seaplane on the lake
down the hill from Castel Gandolfo,
you’ll have time to sit in the square
with a glass or two of chilled Frascati
and sneak glances at the Pope’s palace,
the two Swiss guards in the doorway
with their pikes and clownish uniforms,
and if you sit there long enough
the man himself might come out
in a sharp black suit (Armani,
not Michelangelo), dark glasses on,
the bodyguards well behind him,
and you’ll nod to him as he pauses
long enough for a snifter of vodka,
then shuffles off to his regular table
at the lakeside restaurant he prefers
to any other, where they cook
what he requests the previous night,
and where no one approaches him
except the padrone’s daughter
who reads him the poems of Goethe,
three an evening, then he signs
to the minders it’s time to leave,
and soon he’s back at the palace,
and if you’re still sitting there
you can toast him as he goes in.

 

Page(s) 93

Back to top