To Italy at Fift)，<br > I<br > Newhaven-Dieppe<br > Inside the salt-rimmed ship a crush of school-children<br > suck straws， spit pips，<br > carryhlg their curiosity and garbage to another shore.<br > Above dark anoraks lank hair co-mingles<br > with die smell of hard-boiled eggs and Channel fog.<br > Along the slanting decks crushed cigarettes like slugs<br > slide to the blurred grey waves.<br > The voices slur， the enghxes mumble，<br > thoughts criss-cross like wire<br > abrasive oll the air s damp skin，<br > or lie and stare punch-drtu~k<br > with adolescent melancholy at unravelled clouds.<br > Beyond the rail slack seas shake and revoke<br > each last connection with faint families.<br > II<br > Urbino: Madonna by Piero della Francesca<br >In grey disguise<br >her slant hieratic eyes<br >gaze out at us untroubled by our want.<br >Their hard serene<br >composure shares a diamond world<br >where fight is kalowhig;<br >pure median to the pendulum swhxg of time<br >her heart stands still. This child<br >is not from her， but plucked from life displays<br >