Oh love darling partner in this journey home
you walk me up rue Arago in the dark
dawn lights in the Bar de la Paix sandy-hair’d
dogs ready in the streets to accept offerings
black sacks of ordures ripe and stinky
petty criminals howling after sunrise up the valley
the chattering chorus of birds on the Planiol
in the dense crowns of the platanes
shrouds for the bronze poilu and
les enfants de la patrie
morte pour la France while
the wild chorus the birdrap screeches and wails
and a lighted window in the rooms above
the Pouss’Café silhouette mamma dancing
to the shrieks the rap for the multitudes
asleep yet under the Occitan sky the air
the air yellow stinking and thick with sand and fire
Ophelia o where have you been
where have you been and gone
Ophelia o dangerous gal you
where have you been and gone
© R Young
Photograph © D Young
studio arago 