Coming Around Again

It's the very picture of loneliness -
Me by the lake,
Pen and small moleskin journal in hand,
As the evening sun waves goodnight to the sky.
But I'm not really alone -
There are a million thoughts in my head,
Mostly in the form of Carly Simon lyrics.
And really, I think, who better
To keep me company on a night like this?
I hunch a little lower into my
Thick, warm scarf -
It's the one that I bought for five euro
From that little Romanian vendeur in Paris
Very near the Sacré Cœur -
And I'm transported to a time
When the sun was a little brighter,
The wind a little less biting,
The pain a bit fresher,
Yet a bit further away.
"You have to hurt to understand,"
Carly croons in her friendly voice
To a girl known only to her -
A girl convinced true love will be easy -
"We laugh and lose."
The itsy bitsy spider dutifully crawls
Up the water spout,
Verse after verse,
Though I'm sure his mood has deteriorated
By the end of the song,
He having been nearly drowned so many times now.
There must be something at
The top of that spout
Worth all his attention and persistence.
All of a sudden I don't mind falling apart -
There really is more room in a broken heart.
Then the sun is gone,
And with it the day,
And I'm left shivering in my green scarf.
Falling asleep tonight will be easy -
Maybe I'll visit the City of Love again
In my dreams, and maybe
The sun will come up over the Eiffel Tower,
And maybe -
Maybe tomorrow nothing will be like today,
But it will be new, and perfect.
As I sit by the lake in the dark,
I am the spider,
That sordid thing called Life
Is the water spout,
And it's raining.
And Carly whispers in my ear,
"Nothing stays the same,
Scream a lullaby,
It's all coming around again."

With Love,
That girl (still) in Switzerland