Swallows swooping sweep; flakesome paint (orange
‘n peachy) peels, revealing grey about
the green-wood rectangles, slatted ‘n hinged;
off th’blocky buildings ricochet the shouts
of young boys leaping off tiled-steps e’en as
some older young boys do the same from rocks
that range in cragcliff miniature past
this swimmer’s bay t’where, with a shrine, it stops –
see Saint Sicilian Flavia dive
dance-like ‘to the sea b’yond Palermo’s reach,
watched o’er by th’sheersharp peak that breaks the skies
that drape their blue over Mondello Beach!
There sits a girl who, with Ital’yun eyes,
follows the paths the swooping swallows sweep.
william altoft 