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One day, I ushered in from noonday heat

And stumbled thereupon a saintly arch,

Relaxed against the bluebird sky. Its art

Bestilled my soul anew, to breathe the sweet

Juniper wafting in from o'er the Seine's

Fresh fantasy that stirs the tranquil sea

Before my eyes, becoming memory

Of finer days and tuning finer sense

Under the laurel tree. On wind I heard

The whistle from the August breeze that dwells

Among the ancient stones and distant bells,

Aloft in steeples with the warbling bird.

 

Through marble courts of stone, three women walk;

What timeless, thrilling tales they dare unlock.

 

And thus, a die was cast: no sooner did

I set to cross over at Argenteuil

When alabaster shadow blurred my gaze,

An alluring specter. Heaven forbid

I break a reed and dulcify the bruise,

So cauterized from leaking in my heart,

By gazing close upon it; that, in part,

Was much the reason why I could excuse

My own care. Donned in locks of silk that flow

Yet cross upon their sable selves and seem

To melt away, I brushed against a dream

To there caress its raven velvet bow.

 

 

They dance; they sit; they talk of what was done

To Saint Gennaro and Napoleon.

 

It stood, as though to tease the mystery

That aged professors talk of in their halls

With silent circumspection: wherewithals

For trading armchairs to breathe history,

Up through their very nostrils. Many seek

This long forgotten hoard of guarded loot,

Which only can be found in absolute

Abandon of the shame from tongue-in-cheek

Remarks; at least, of those which harken from

A stony resolution to withdraw

From all which garners mythos, like my jaw,

A strength mere anesthesia showed undone.

 

The first one takes her shoe and waves it 'round,

Proclaiming, "Was there ever higher ground?"

 

My heartstrings pulled, I stumbled closer still

And nearly found me cast upon the floor;

Its glassy eyes took shelter in the core

Of my bewitched and transient soul, until

The corners of its lips began to twitch,

And I thought, "Perhaps you're to speak through tears.

Are you so pledged to captivate my ears

Then, right along with all of me, as if

I was not held together by your spell

Already? What is this that draws me now

To you: your faith or beauty to endow

The whole of your embrace, if breath should tell?"

 

The second raised her finger cautiously:

"Come now! Your candor's veins will runneth free."

 

The sunlight trickled thicker from above;

The ridge between its brow showed neither blush

Nor wrinkle from betwixt the artist's brush

As, just daring to live, it spoke: of love,

Of life, of sound, of pure benevolence

In idiosyncratic words and deeds,

And wonder of a gale beneath the trees

That fractalize the light, forever ends

A day, as voices trail me softly, down

The rabbit hole and far beyond my sight,

Yet then seeps in my mind from blackest night

That grows 'til oceans quench us or we drown.

 

The third takes both aside and whispers slow:

"Life is forfeit; doth neither of thou know?"

 

And so the whitewashed walls come crashing all

Around me; whiter light engulfs the room

Where once perched the elusive vision. Whom

Must I announce my silence to? The small

Voice beckons, conjures imagery of old

Decay and new beginnings; then recant,

Hearing a sultry wave of Latin chant

From deep within its spirit. I had sold

My sense, that precious locket 'round my neck,

For unadulterated awe, a chance

Of starting over to relearn the dance

That we all know when nothing but a speck.

 

And so the magic ended, and they went

Away, without another penny spent.

 

 

So please,

Come sit with me

In the far corner of this small café

Where once I dreamed; and now I dream away

With you

And only two

Cortados and a chocolate chip cookie,

Pondering all of life and what could be.

After

I share laughter

With such a haunting phantom as your grin,

That flitters and is never seen again,

I may

Just pull away

In order to reorient myself

To my old books, lined neatly on my shelf;

For there,

Your touching stare

Cannot so quickly burrow in my brain.

For what enchantment your eyes held that day,

The end

Cannot pretend

To quite predict if you will come around

To this secluded section of the town

Where we

First dared to be

So intertwined with fate, and where you are,

A thousand years from now among the stars.