"To fall in love..."

To fall in love, leave everything behind

and buy a non-stop ticket to Quebec.

Where pigeons line old rooftops, you will find

compelling reasons to stretch out your neck.

And there, equipped with your wide-angle lens,

catch strangers in the act and unaware,

take photographs of lovers holding hands,

of children climbing statues in the square.

Each one of them – a life that has so little

in common with your own – is there for you

and ready to send off a quiet ripple

to tune your senses and transform the view.

The old hotel will turn into a palace,

and vertigo will flood its vestibule.

You will recall the old forgotten palettes

from days of mixing oils back in school.

And in this long-awaited, brief seclusion,

you’ll close your eyes and memories will stir, -

the past and present whipped into a blur, -

and neither one will feel as an intrusion.