Sydney Lea here attacks head on the dread subject of sex but manages somewhat quixotically to ride away (on a Shetland pony named Warrior Maiden) into utterly charming reminiscences about his youthful passion for Angie Morton (his version of Dulcinea del Toboso). Here are beautiful, lapidary lines: "Unrequitedness thus became, as I say, an expectation." And a sweet reflection on the complexity of life which, yes, casts up metaphors that we spend the rest of our days decoding.