Place Massena : Nice
A fountain clangs. Fuzzy with night the town Spreads like a blanket its caressing air, As in the public square I sit to wait the dawn.
The palms emerge from shadow. Suddenly A girl comes running barefoot through the night Clanging with sobs: her skirt Leaping from knee to knee, Rinsing her throat with tears she throws herself Against the shaping palms, upon the grass, Then gulping down her grief
Runs back to what it was.
Two couples pass: their laughter rings like tecarrss. Against the fountain clattering through my a I fill the chill of dawn
—Wrapped only in a town.
The palms catch colour as the lights go out.
Love breakfast quarrels memory lorries thought Begin; and one by one The early bathers come.
Christ, this is far from home.
LAURENCE LERNER
Previous page
