Open-air Baths, West Harrow

She told him that while there were still scrappy fields
all around the estate
each Monday their school made them swim
in the open-air pool
- even in Novembers.

He had seen Johnny weismuller open it
young years before that
saw the great Olympian thrash a top-speed length
before his whole class splashed in
- this he alwats remembers.

Now half way through the winter they sit clasping hands
in the low-ceilinged lounge of their sheltered unit.
As each stares into the embers,
she shivers at the thought of the bitterest cold
while he exullts in the movie star's glow.

Peter Keeble