Title – Sometimes Found by Night

Author – Amanda Barusch

Genre – Poetry

Type – Poem

Publication Date – 2015

Publisher – The Legendary, Issue 66

Medium – Magazine

Available at – The Legendary (USA, defunct)

Source Text:

Sometimes Found by Night

Paris, 1947

He, too, was struck by the pervasive scent
of onions and the ghastly cost of the war.

They danced in a discothèque
while deer strolled through the woods.

He watched her drink coffee
with a sugar cube between her teeth.

He invited her for a walk, and she cried
Stop! But it was only a seagull.
Not a cockatoo.

They enjoyed eavesdropping in cafes.
Once, on the street, he heard a soldier ask,

What day is this? And
she replied, I don’t know. I don’t live here.

He worried that she might find him dull,
she had, after all, no gift for opera.

She said he swallowed loudly.
But not all the time.

There was a certain comfort.

Later, he would ask his bride,
Why hyacinths? And
she would reply, Because marigolds smell like dying bees.

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