The war just ended;

            I am at my table reading

We went beyond the strife - the aftermath has set in,

                our odyssey is over

Ships set sail the way I once traveled to you in Paris

again and

again

I get out of my chair,

like Aeneas left Troy and ended up founding Rome,

and left the piles of 

tea-stained books behind

to chase a pigeon off my balcony

I forget

why your face launched a 1000 ships

but I still see it

every now and then

when the clouds are crimson

I fall like Phaeton from his father’s chariot

And this time you are not here 

to catch me

Lars Leonhard lives in Copenhagen, Denmark with his wife and daughter where he tends to his writing, urban garden and family as well as brewing his own wine from fruits in his garden and forested in the nearby nature reserve. He holds a six year degree in Comparative Literature which he concluded with a 150-page thesis about William Carlos Williams' Paterson. He has studied in California and travels often to the USA and has lived in places such as Riga, Latvia and Paris, France.