Once upon a time
We stand before the Trevi Fountain
between the hand-clasped lovers
and hers left far behind in London.
She pulls a keepsake from her bag,
finds a place to rest it on the rocks.
Arms folded, smirking through spray,
the plastic frog is snapped and sent:
his image beams across the miles.
He nestles in her in-flight case
till unpacked in Palermo
to pose beside a Chinese vase.
Next day Frog perches breathless
for a dashboard view of Sicily;
gets out with us each sight-see stop,
eyes bulging from her unzipped bag.
Grins I was here into the camera lens.
On the tube from Heathrow
my mind’s in Agrigento, head still
full of Syracuse, focus on a photo hug
at the foot of Etna: me, her and Frog.
Back in Brixton, he stays zipped up;
I’m trailing on the unlit stairs.
The flat door opens. Lips meet.
Her real-life prince stands smiling.