Poppy Pagoda Mixed My Soda

Was a small van that sold nothing

But cold soft drinks of all descriptions

I worked there one summer many years ago

And brushed up on my Shakespeare studies

When business was quiet or very slow

The van was parked opposite a small rockery

Which was part of a long ruined beach castle

That had been demolished by the violence of the sea

The pace of life there was almost horizontal

And I made many friends during my time on the beach

In about a fortnight I am due to visit this castle once again

As part of my research for my forthcoming book

I am strangely nervous about this visit

Which is very unlike me as I am rarely fazed

But I fell that I might meet the ghosts of my past

And do not know whether they will still like me