12.17.2001

Last night I dreampt that we found ourselves in a place where the world rushed up to meet us. We felt important, larger than life, surreal.

And when we slipped away from the hotel, we found ourselves in Paris. Not the Paris we know to be true, but the Paris of dreams, the place where love reigns and lovers dance beneath dim lanterns on the street while artists paint their portrait. We soon came to not one, but three Eiffel towers rising proudly into the sky. What fun it would be to race to the top, you said, and so we did.

On the top level I stepped towards the railing and looked across the horizon. I had thought it would be fun to see if I could make it there before you, but realized a little too late that Paris simply lost its beauty without you by my side.

We left then, hands clasped like vines that merge and seem inseparable. After walking a small distance we passed under a bridge and entered the Far East. Wispy trees of white-velvet blossoms lined unpaved streets while people pushed and shouted their way through the town. We surveyed the pagodas and laughed at the koi that danced within the emerald waters of small ponds. And I realized then that there truly wasn't much of anything to laugh about when watching the koi. But having you there made my heart so light that the laughter bubbled up inside me and took flight.

And my laughter turned into birds that flew away, geese that paired for life and took flight together, knowing exactly where they were headed and why.

And we promised each other (as we headed into Greece) that we would return the following year, when the first sun-kissed leaves fell to the ground, we would return to our tri-Paris, our mixed up China, our world away from the world where everything smiled at us and love seemed perfect.

Then you softly kissed my forehead, pulled me into your arms, and we slept. Right there, beneath the moon on a hill surrounded by ruins, we slept. I listened to the sound of waves crashing, people dancing at festival, your heart beating deep inside your chest.

I swear it said I love you, whispered it to me in the pattern that only lovers can understand. I swear it told me that nothing was beautiful without me by your side, and I closed my eyes and slept.

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