Romance

Last night I dreamt of the line, "Then one night, the goddess deigns to write to you!" It's a Rimbaud line. Someone repeated it several times, and afterward it floated in the darkness like a neon marquee. Does anyone else dream of words?

I find it funny, and odd, that even as I am making a concerted effort to Read Less Poetry (I bought a hard copy of  The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs a few days ago and have been reading that), it has to remind me that it's still there, literally haunting my dreams.

IV

You are in love. Rented out till fall.
You are in love. Poetic fires ignite you.
Your friends laugh; they won’t talk to you at all.
Then one night, the goddess deigns to write to you!

That night…you go back to the café, to the noisy atmosphere;
You sit and order beer, or lemonade…
Nobody’s serious when they’re seventeen,
And there are linden trees on the promenade.

_{- from "Romance" by Arthur Rimbaud}