Parisian Flower

Parisian Flower

The Arc de Triomphe
Is white with snow.
The labyrinthine streets stretch into the city
Carrying the footprints
Of lovers finding their way –
Like butterflies walking the long soft petals of a spider lily
Finding nectar

The steep steps rise
To the Sacre-Coeur and the knights at its walls.
The roads and their cobbled stones joined
Where hearts have been smitten
The roads and their cobbled stones cracked
Where hearts have been broken
The artists sweep their brushes –
Bleeding colours, shadows and blushing cheeks –
Across the canvas
The wind weeps
The singers sing
And the mimes mime silent tragedies –
Like the withering of a rose

(Somewhere in this city)
From the most saccharine nectar
And Music's most selfless abandon to melody
And Nature's most unrestrained display of beauty
Came you.