A Glass of Wine with Breakfast?

                   I

Often I skip breakfast and go straight on into lunch.
So it was today, and I wanted something French.
Salmon sushi over noodles with a glass of white wine
In an open air café.

The café was très moderne.
A bit expensive but it gave me «le moment Parisien»
I sought to capture on this day.

                   II

I've forgotten if, in Paris, trucks and traffic
Are allowed by the open air cafés.
The intrusion of a noisy delivery truck
And a small crowd of cars dispelled my idyll.

The noise and bustle just didn't seem to fit.
I let my attention drift to something else
While waiting for the noon rush to fade away.

                  III

The pretty busboy.
I smile at him, and he smiles back
As my eyes linger over his shape and face.

I wonder if he guesses that my smile
Contains more than a bit of lusty appreciation of him.

His eyes seem to say
He's been admired and desired by many others
And that's just fine with him.

                   IV

And so it is:
Café moderne,
Salmon sushi and white wine,
The intrusion of the city,
The pretty, perhaps worldly-wise bus boy.

The perfect déjeuner au Montréal.


	21 July 2004
	by Bill Cattey