Midnight in Paris

There were statues of men erecting flags and sprightly cherubs lounging on clouds of stone and steel, like they had boiling hot vats of liquid gold, silver, and bronze thrown upon them while contemplating the human tragedy playing out beneath them. Eyes full of wisdom and wistful sorrow with unspoken secrets hanging on parted lips...I wish I knew how to be as resolved to the future as they were. Frozen in time and precious metals forever standing as tributes and guardians to the things we dance around. Former delusions of grandeur, now looked upon with a superior mindedness, replaced with illusions of progress. Unwilling witnesses to our tragic demise. I remember the sprawling ivy and tall, towering trees that lined the streets of dirt and history. Strolling around, contained in a shell of quiet wonderment. Beautiful new women in old fashioned clothing, with faded shawls dangling from the crooks of their arms, adorning them like some half forgotten dream trailing along around their ankles, floating on a graceful breeze. The winding, uneven streets and alleys that seem to lead to nowhere in particular....just on.....not knowing what's around the bend. It felt like being inside a Van Gogh painting, my body made up of pastilles and paint staring up at a undecided sky of timid oranges and frightening blues that want to carry on the day, but must concede to the reign of night. People speaking in strange tongues and dialects seemingly discussing things that held such gravity. Notre Dame and the Louvre held my gaze and siphoned off all my breath and curiosity only to be renewed again with each new step. It felt like satin sheets on a sultry day, like love at its beginning.

Time slides by like the soothing river Seine, whispering thoughts of enticing starts and somber ends. The night swallows you and before you know it your feet have halted at the edge of a bridge over tranquil water cowering under the Eiffel Tower's pennant stare. You walk through an elegant garden of trees and flowers perfectly balancing on the vicious line between taste and extravagance only to be struck breathless as you come out underneath it....you crane your neck upwards, mouth agape and eyes popping, to admire the strength that men once held. Approaching it cautiously like an old, sleeping lion to feel the rusted metal, coarse and rugged underneath your young and foolish fingers. Suddenly, you can hear the history, feel it coursing through your veins. A welcome tonic to calm your nerves. We went up to the top and it cradled all of us in it's grasp, taking our admiration as it's token. Rapt at attention and looking for the skyline, seeing buildings and ferris wheels and the other side of the world....seeing only as the birds see.

I'm still surprised my shaky legs allowed me to go to the edge and grip the chain link fence corralling us in. All of us anxious ticket holders hoping for a renewed renaissance of the soul that only ancient things can sustain. Suddenly, a grip on the shoulder, a quick shake, making me jump a mile high before I turned to see my sisters snickering face. She grabbed me by the wrist and led me back to our group, who were all seated on the riveted steel terrace looking back towards the tower. She held Haven in her arms, legs crossed over Indian style and we all waited with baited breath for we knew not what. Then all at once, like the tower itself had an agenda to keep pace with, like it had a grand finale that it waited oh so impatiently for us to enjoy, the light show started.

Flickering and flashing, blazing and dying like falling stars, lights sparkled up and down the slopes of its graceful figure, shining in our eyes and glistening in our hair. You couldn't even see where the lights were coming from, but you almost didn't want to...the mystery gave way to mystique and it was all you could do not to ooh and ahhh. People so stunned that they couldn't get their fingers to stop fumbling long enough to snap a picture. It was as if it was some signal; a proclamation to the heavens that we were here, waiting for their acceptance.....a testament to our strength and readiness to ride that elevator right on up to the pearly gates, some more willingly than others. I felt the world expand in a instant and knew my dreams were want to be bigger, prettier things. I didn't even know where to place it in my memories, somewhere where it wouldn't be tainted or muddled by some pictures in a book. There is no learning like living and no teacher like the world. I wanted something substantial...something irrefutable to make me believe in the purpose of man and this structure, this beacon of imagination and inspiration was there for me to rest an age old burden on. That man could build something simply for the beauty of a thing, for the majesty of it. Something without military intent, or remedial activity. Look out any window and see it resolute and true, standing in the air as if drifting through space and we were the fortunate planet it descended upon. Open up your eyes, it told me... open your mind and your heart to things you might not understand cause one of these days you'll be born and raised and it'll come up on you without warning to steal the life you take for granted. I still got time and I still got promises to be kept....and still, I have miles to go before I sleep.....Yes.....miles to go before I sleep...