Everbody wants to swim in the river

In this heat we will burn
but be able to wipe it off with a sponge.
The girl at the tobacco stall tells us
these cigarettes will not harm our lungs
under this sun our teeth will not yellow.
She hands over the box of Lucky Strike
points at the people crossing the bridge
and says "everybody wants to swim in the river.
At the bar they have taken down the price lists
and let people serve themselves
this is no time for queuing
because everybody wants to swim in the river.

When we wake up
our tents will collapse themselves
everything will be packed away
without us needing to get out of our sleeping bags.
On the train we will show the conductor our tickets
our Young Person's Rail Card
and the small plastic horse we found
at the bottom of the river
we will tell him about the security guard
rolling up his trousers
and paddling.