18 JULY 1998, Page 53

No. 2045: Service with a smile

I have just seen a blurb for a novel which begins, 'As the sun set over Manila, Sean began to crack. . . . ' It occurs to me that these words would make a rousing two opening lines of a poem in the style of that rough balladeer Robert W. Service, author of The Shooting of Dan McGrew'. Over to you. Maximum 16 lines. Entries to 'Comp- etition No. 2045' by 30 July.