Ginge Reads

Strawberries, Photo by Cole Keister on Unsplash far sweeter than those we ate in the spring, giggles held in a cloud of smoke, chapped lips, calloused fingertips, the gentle weight of eyelids resisting sleep, frosted leaves settled on grassy corners, painted toenails, chocolate dusted with gold and unevenly halved, fragments of amber blowing past the car, hazy glass, upturned snow globes, blue eyes, and you: pale skinned and divine.

So many hearts on the love lock bridge 'Pont des Arts', Paris Photo by Dietmar Rabich via Wikimedia Commons   Fallen from sleeves and onto the rail Reflected back in moonlit waters In a Paris fairy-tale. Rain-kissed rust splatters the oldest Announcing the age of love Padlocks fixed those years ago Now often thought of. Seven hundred thousand and counting On each, engraved a love note Of three words and a special date, Or an overused Shakespeare quote. A key tossed into the river Of the Parisian Seine Creating heart-shaped ripples As it floats downstream and then Settles in the mud, Clinking against the others. Those thousand chunks of metal A symbol of the lovers. And now the iron begins to bend Under the weight of l'amour, Railings balance on the edge of danger For tourists who adore. Heritage defaced by fashion For the sake of an Instagram post An icon attacked by love locks A fact ignored by most. The waters turn a sh