Remember the sundowner,

those bullet point recipes

for WW2 American cocktails?

Those poolside romps with

vacationing English teachers,

sunburnished Nova Scotian girls?

Remember the Dubai go-between?

Before you went for the sainthood?
Remember the days of caramel brandy

and Bali Hai, beer of shabby Princes?

Your cocktail windscreen wipers

and the spin-dry fluorescence

of a disco's ultra violet.

Your driver parked by Heaven,

where make-shift futures men talked and stalked,

and chatted up the girls, the boys,

and the in-betweens.

Remember the little guy

on Nowhere Corner

texting HQ on SMS?
Remember the secret code for laughter?

Remember laughter?