She’s an artist. about forty, as most habitués here have always been,
and sits by the window, drinking the best Bloody Mary in town.
Far away from the excitement of tourists
being and nothingness flickers in her eyes
as she remembers the dream of a city of love –
a future once imagined and a past never lived.
Jazz music meanders along to the memories
streaming through her mind.
In a last effort she turns around before she leaves,
but people without dreams are all that’s left
in a world where everyone feels alone amidst the crowd.
——
1) Rosebud is a café in Paris with an American interior design of the 1930s.
2) Being and Nothingness is an essay by Jean-Paul Sartre which is seen as the foundation of 20th century existentialism.
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