You are leaving then -
never the 'Salvatore Mundi',
more a sgraffito grey,
not sumptuary black;
offertory gondola on oil canvas -
in sympathetic cassetta patina.

Magnificent in your amateur interpretation
you are focused on detail,
neglecting your own shadowing -
Nona peeling against the unvarnished lagoon,
De Profundis on the Walkman 
heedless of the antiphon, you return to your guidebook
on useful Italian phrases.
"Fermi qui, per favore."

Terry Doyle is a resident in Cork, Ireland, working full time in the Mental Health Service. Poems have appeared in Poetry Ireland Review Issue 126, The North Issue 61 Special Irish Edition, Crossways Literary Journal, Better than Starbucks. Commended in the recent Fool for Poetry Chapbook 2018 Competition run by Munster Literature Centre. Poetry forthcoming in Dodging the Rain April '19 & Poetry Salzburg Review Issue 34 due Summer '19.