Solstice Song

 Once I had the pleasure,

Once I had the privilege,

Of two months on the Seine

Two months of river living.

I was three floors up

Four if one counted American,

And the view from there was crazy,

And I drank it in all hours,

Left the casement open to hear the sounds,

To see the boats, to smell whatever one could smell.

Those two months were May and June

So the solstice came and went

While I was there

In Crazy View.

There was a merle noire - looks like a black robin - living across the river,

In a tree right on the quai,

Sounded just like a robin, too,

Or like it was saying "soon June".

That turned into a poem.

******************

“The longest day of the year”

I heard myself thinking

“Mid-summer night’s eve”

As I sat in the darkness drinking

The calvados still not gone

Not gone yet from Tuesday

From the bottle at the sink

“Or was it left from Jeudi?”

Whichever - no real difference

Because,

“It won’t last long now”

I heard myself say

“The bottle or the year?”

Seemed to sum the day.