À Bientôt J’espère (Until Soon, I Hope)

We were down to our last few euros on our final day in Paris, so we decided to take a stroll around the latin quarter, drinking in the sights and sounds. Paris for the second time is still as enchanting.

‘Writing Home Elsewhere’. How apt to see this on the standee a day before we were headed for home.

We had baguettes for breakfast in the morning. The locals eat their baguettes on the go, so we decided to blend in. I remember eating one on the metro, without getting any weird stares from passengers, and finishing it down to the last bite. Exciting times. Doing this back home would get me kicked out of the train instantly. #YOLO #YouOnlyLoafOnce

Lazing around the Jardin des Tuileries. Wish I could be here all day long, licking gelato, reading a book

As we walked the stretch, from Quai de Conti, to the Louvre, to Arc de Triomphe, and down to Champs-Elysees, we were calm & quiet, letting every corner of this city spill and whisper its beauty, before we leave.

Gare du Nord

This is the last of my Paris photos, taken right before we headed back to London to catch our flight back home. Despite all the misadventures, my #50daysofeuropesummer has been nothing but an absolute dream. I’ll miss this terribly, but glad to be back with the family.

“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, I told him, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.” – Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran

I can’t make you stay, so I’ll write a poem about you. Summer 2014, here’s one for the books –

Summer, My Lover

Always, when I leave,

there are traces of you

that make a home in me

At an avenue,

the sun blinding my view

of you, skipping down

the cobblestones

lined with the homeless

forgotten in light

Lost in the interweaving

of architecture & junctions.

But your laughter, filling up

the alleys was enough to coat

the grime & grit

& dingy metros

Leading me back

to a familiar landmark. You

burst with colour; reds & yellows

& glinting greens

Our days were speckled gold,

time & space a blur

dissolving into a line, stretching

far into the horizon

But like lovers,

like all lovers,

we parted in silence.

When I miss that afternoon

we leaped over fences & gates

after spending

the last of our Euros

on ice-cream, I call you up to say

these reckless feet

are missing your streets

& how easily we got away

But I remember you looking on

as I packed my bags to leave,

you said you’d wait

for our next adventure

under the endless lemon skies.

A lonely teardrop escaping,

falling,

into the Pacific

won’t make a difference

in the miles that will separate

you

& I

and all at once,

you grew faint in the distance

the clouds swallowing my feet

The ends of my lips curling, sighing,

folding you into song

Let me breathe you in memory,

let me feel your redolent skin,

your warmth enveloping me

on lazy, sun-drenched mornings

When it is time, I will find

my way back to return,

like a child, springing into

the vastness of your arms

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