Sometimes she would stay up late,
long after he’d gone to bed,
reading about ruined cities
submerged beneath the sea
off the north coast of Africa
where she had grown up
and he would strain his ears
to hear the pages turn,
imagining her swimming
just below the surface of the water
looking for headless statues
or stern carved faces with seaweed beards,
frightening the bright fish
into shoals of colour and fan-like shapes.
She had swum here too
when they’d first arrived,
diving deep into the coral reefs,
until they turned the boat back towards the shore
and made love for hours on one of the sandy beaches.