Harry and Mahatma

Hanging out unrobed
like Mata Hari – ruby earrings
dripping from their lobes –

is Harry and Mahatma’s way
of cheering themselves
out of after-Christmas doldrums.

It’s swell to feel yourself
insouciantly lolling on a plum-
red velvet throw, not worrying

about how things will go,
with precious jewels
as your companions:

just the gift to lift you from
the canyons of post-holiday
despair. After all the folderol

of promulgating vol-au-vents
rempli de champignons
et truffes all day – that stuff

can make you swear! –
it’s lovely to recline, aloof –
expensively decline to care.






.