Finally today I took a long walk down to Houston so I could see friends
After a week trapped in the sorry canyons of Midtown so
I walked around Nolita just trying to find the place Veronique & I first lived
After she’d joined me from Trastevere & one day over coffee I’d explained myself to her—
This was this way & That was that & she looked at me saying oh poor boy lost in
Opposites held so close around you like some thin winter coat
& it made sense at the time even though she herself wore only her trademark
Black astrakhan bolero to keep warm during those hard nights & I miss those days in Rome
Living almost as in an Antonioni movie & then a tiny black cat
Svelte as a toy jaguar on my old fire escape starts howling down to some alley toms
Howling back up at her & if Veronique were here she’d say oh tu cose povere calma tutti everything’s ok—