We are sitting on a hot beach

I am wearing a white cotton shirt

And khaki cotton shorts

You are wearing a pastel kaftan

Over your blue swim suit

We will not swim today

As the sea is cold

It has not engaged the season

You are reading Country Life

When I ask you why

You smile

And say that you long for the country

You have tired of the beach and the sea

And wish to sleep in the verdant air once more

We leave in my open topped car

You have borrowed my khaki cotton shorts

I have exchanged them for my rough blue Levi’s