New Welsh Review

Honeymoon

Unexpected, that the woman at the car hire desk
would hand us the wrong keys
while she spoke to her mother on the phone;
that the ring would slip my finger,
and sink to the bottom of the pool;
that rain could fall so hard, bouncing back
from the paving stones of Montalcino;
that when the sun returned, steam would scroll
from the roofs of Fiats and Alfa Romeos;
that we could feel so tired, not knowing, yet,
what tiredness really was; nor how young you were,
how young I was, how in and unpractised at love.

 

Roy Marshall’s first collection, The Sun Bathers, (2012) was shortlisted for the Michael Murphy award. His second, The Great Animator, appeared in 2017. A book of translations, After Montale , was published in 2019. Roy has previously worked as a nurse, and in recent years has been employed in adult education.