by Carl Dennis

    Today as we walk in Paris I promise to focus

    More on the sights before us than on the woman

    We noticed yesterday in the photograph at the print shop，

    The slender brunette who looked like you

    As she posed with a violin case by a horse-drawn omnibus

    Near the Luxembourg Gardens. Today I won't linger long

    On the obvious point that her name is as lost to history

    As the name of the graveyard¹ where her bones

    Have been crumbling² to dust for over a century.

    The streets we're to wander will shine more brightly

    Now that it's clear the day of her death

    Is of little importance compared to the moment

    Caught in the photograph as she makes her way

    Through afternoon light like this toward the Seine.

    The cold rain that fell this morning has given way to sunshine.

    The gleaming puddles³ reflect our mood

    Just as they reflected hers as she stepped around them

    Smiling to herself， happy that her audition⁴

    An hour before went well. After practicing scales

    For years in a village whose name isn't recorded，

    She can study in Paris with one of the masters.

    No way of telling now how close her life

    Came to the life she hoped for as she rambled⁵，

    On the day of the photograph， along the quay⁶.

    But why do I need to know when she herself，

    If offered a chance to peruse⁷ the book of the future，

    Might shake her head no and turn away？

    She wants to focus on her afternoon， now almost gone，

    As we want to focus on ours as we stand

    Here on the bridge she stood on to watch

    The steamers push up against the current or ease down.

    This flickering⁸ light on the water as boats pass by

    Is the flow that many painters have tried to capture

    Without holding too still. By the time these boats arrive

    Far off in the provinces and give up their cargoes⁹，

    Who knows where the flow may have carried us？

    But to think now of our leaving is to wrong the moment.

    We have to be wholly here as she was

    If we want the city that welcomed her

    To welcome us as students trained in her school

    To enjoy the music as much as she did

    When she didn't grieve that she couldn't stay

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