27 FEBRUARY 1993, Page 28

Papa Tassos Considers the Tourists

The ordinary intervenes, to show that distance-shrinking summer, bringing smiles and tourists to the taverns, told us tales. We wake today astonished to see snow: it seems to shift us north, though now we know our differences are deeper than mere miles. The same cold softness covers them, but fails to fill the hollow left here when we go.

We lived the life we found, sought no advice: our two rooms, we upstairs, the goats beneath were what we knew. We wondered at their choice, returned to winter's ways, but with less faith. Each card they post, 'This place is Paradise' pushes us a pace more into myth.

Simon Darragh