I thought we could make fun
of the people at the beach
teenage girls in matching togs
like team colours

flocked together families
with self-conscious mothers
tearaway boys

and the cocky men in board shorts
they would probably grow into.

There were loud foreigners
and bikinis on all sorts of bodies.

But instead we watched
the volleyball players and smiled
at children in sunhats.

You spoke not one
cynical word
and splashed your pale limbs
safely between the flags.

more Tuesday Poems here