Dutch city: U

October 2012

serendipity had it, we found a water tower

in the prettiest of cities

and all that I saw there, I am

 

a church, I am

broken

a steeple detached from a body

punctured gateway – my heart!

where everyone passes

and nobody stays

 

denlike

dark city basements under busy streets

canals  - my tears?

running low - low I am

narrow stairs and empty thresholds

broken hopes, I am

 

serendipity had it, we found a small courtyard

on the margins of this city

and all that I felt there, I am

 

a huge model

a small house

where two ripe lovers tried to share openness

closing panels and swinging doors

like their rooms, yes – I am

empty, ambiguous, apparently untouchable

more color than substance

old and fragile and beautiful, I am

 

and then, an insignificant void

a hole in the tissue

surrounded by windows – old women looking

a bench for long lunches in summer

with friends

and the illusion of children, playing

around a brick water tower

around your promise that we’d make it

oh, that promise, I still am

 

brick by brick I built all my hopes, all my future

and then – serendipity had it – I left them behind

water tower

standing somewhere

amid beauty

lonely

as I am