Tag Archives: Place des Vosges

Poetry in Primetime

I had intended to post something more mainstream in my first “Tuesday Poetry Post” but was surprised to find a slice of poetry in primetime on”The Blacklist”  the other night.  It was delivered quite well by James Spader’s character Reddington :

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Have you ever sailed across an ocean

On a sailboat surrounded by sea

With no land in sight –

Without even the possibility of sighting land – for days to come?

To stand at the helm of your destiny?

I want that one more time.

I want to be in the Piazza del campo in Siena

To feel the surge of ten racehorses go thundering by.

I want another meal in Paris at L’Ambroisie at the Place des Vosges.

I want another bottle of wine

And then another.

I want the warmth of a woman and the cool set of sheets,

One more night of jazz at the Vanguard.

I want to stand on summits and smoke Cubans

And feel the sun on my face

For as long as I can.

Walk on the wall again.

Climb the tower.

Ride the river.

Stare at the frescoes.

I want to sit in the garden and read one more good book.

Most of all I want to sleep.

I want to sleep like I slept when I was a boy.

Give me that.

Just one time.

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