Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

The moments seem fragile: a coffee in Vienna,
Christmas morning in Tangier
Fragrant lavender, a bright sun, ships sliding through the straits,
Sharing steamy crisp sardines in San Francisco,
A glass of wine and a toffee-tasting cheese in New York,
Snow dancing with steam above the rotembro.
Yet these memories persist, still pulsing the senses
While more earnest days and ambitious efforts
have fallen to pieces, dusty and dead.