Chris Beckett
Victory
Duke Nelson! Viscount Pyramid!
Just two of the names she called him,
when he beat the French at Aboukir.
Her Baron Crocodile, her Marquis Nile…!
So what shall I call you, love,
when you take me by surprise at night,
fire carronades point blank into my hull
and set my rigging (newly-tarred) alight?
The heat is so intense, pitch pours
from every seam, you shout God Save
the King! (or is it God, I’m coming?)
and collapse in triumph at my side.
When morning comes, the smoke of our
engagement cleared, I’ll be amazed
to find I’m still alive (a fact that
armies often learn to their surprise).
And since you conquered me, I’ll rise
to fix the toast and coffee, imagining
myself in Naples on my hero’s arm,
attending balls and loving my defeat.
Chris Beckett won first prize in the Poetry London Competition 2001. His first collection, the dog who thinks he’s a fish, was published by Smith Doorstop in 2004.
Page(s) 32
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