MIRIAM & TOURS 1970

A BOY AND GIRL GO TO TOURS IN 1970

We got off
of the coach
when we reached

the town Tours
Miriam
gazed around

her tight curls
was lit up
by the sun

quite a place
she uttered
I stood there

staring round
at the scene
Gregory

(saint) of Tours
rebuilt the
cathedral

that burnt down
in the 6th
Century

I told her
how'd you know?
she asked me

I read it
in a book
we walked on

the guide said
meet back in
two hours time

we walked streets
together
had coffee

in a shop
one of my
ancestors

in the year
732
stopped Muslim

invaders
at this place
who was that?

she asked me
Charles Martel
Frankish prince

you told her
Henry Ford
said that all

history
was just bunk
or something

just like that
she muttered
he meant we

should live now
not be stuck
in the past

I told her
it's all f**k
she replied

we lit up
cigarettes
and walked on

together
we held hands
(more than that

much later)
and went back
to the coach

and sat down
in our seats
her bare knee

touching mine
as we sat
holding hands

her body
unexplored
foreign lands.