'Prince Caspian' from 'Out of Breath'.

Prince Caspian

For Anne-Marie Poynor

And there were Saturday nights

spent by the fire, watching episodes

of Starsky and Hutch or Match of the Day,

nights closed by chapters of Prince Caspian

before turning off the light,

but not for sleep...

For sleep couldn't come until

I could hear his footsteps

in the alleyway outside,

hear our gate opening, then the back door,

then his footsteps on the stairs,

his clumsy gait on the linoleum floor,

feel his beery breath above my face

as he checked on my sleeping...

And as my heart shrank

like a lost freedom

in the dark cell of my chest,

I eloped on horseback,

became Prince Caspian

on a lead, black steed,

confident enough to take a horses's reins,

to travel, fearless, through dark forests,

my royal cape rushing out behind me,

horizontal with speed.