Saturday, April 18, 2009

Rain rain go away

The room isn't filled with sunlight, but there is still light. The kind of filtered light that reaches a room after passing through thick clouds and millions of raindrops.

The air is chilly and there is no sound save for the pitter-patter on the windows.

Hard to tell that it's springtime in Paris.

Or is it?

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The old man in the subway

Everyday I take the same metro to work, from the same stop to the same stop. I ride the same car, at the same time, and not once have I ever seen the same face. Except for the old man in the subway.

He sits on the steps of the station I exit out of. Everyday he wears the same beige pants, the same tweed jacket, the same blood-red scarf, and the same bowler's cap. And they are always pristine.

Sometimes I think that he's just a normal guy, sitting on the steps to take a break from his day. But then I notice the little pan by his side for people's spare change.

I always want to give him something, but I rarely have anything to give. Except for today.

I saw him from a distance and instantly reached into my purse. I pulled out my wallet and from it I withdrew a 2 euro coin. I held it in my hand as I approached him, and politely bent down to put it in his change pan once I reached him. I looked up to his face, and he just stared at the ground, oblivious to the fact that I was there, or that I had just placed 2 euros into his pan that had only up until then held 30 centimes.

I wanted to give him a hug.

But I didn't. I just stood up, and headed up the stairs...

Several hours later, he was gone. I looked for him around the station, but he was nowhere to be found. I wonder how the rest of his day went. I wonder if he got himself something good to eat, perhaps drink. I wonder if I made any difference in his day...

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Men

you are such strange creatures
i can never tell if you're for real or not
i ignore you,
and you pursue me.
i hold out my hand,
and you turn away.
you come
and you go
and you turn into a dream.
a dream i want to realize at first,
and then you only become the faint memory of another later on.

the kind of dream that you forget.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Medellin

You stood there and looked at me
as I looked out at you.
Your beauty mesmerized me.
Your pain touched me.
Your history pulled me in
and your rains flooded me out.
Your life I felt in my veins.
Your world I was a part of.

But now you're there,
and I'm here.

Until I close my eyes.
And the two then meet in the middle.

And that's good enough for now...