Paris 2

“On the way back, when I got lost,

I suddenly came upon a library

in a sort of basement

with glass windows and all

lit up, with people sitting inside, reading.

There was a Proust poster outside,

maybe a notice of some event around him,

and it was like another world in there.

I imagined myself inhabiting that different world,

reading, thinking, meeting people I could talk to.

But then I have always been terrified of people

and never known what to say to them.

And here I was, lost on a strange street.

It happened so suddenly

that I couldn’t pinpoint the moment

of getting lost, and you were nowhere.

Don’t know what I’m saying, love,

but I must convey this not knowing to you.”