Walking back to Leiden Centraal

Walking back to Leiden Centraal
past midnight down the empty main street
angled, bricked, wide enough for all the feet
the bicycles, the scooters, the shopping
Just light enough this early in the morning
knowing we wouldn’t make the 12:08 bus back to the hotel
and then in the distance ahead we heard a flock of bicyclists
and the light Dutch chattering they made
as they fluttered past us,
their words were animated and utter nonsense to us,
but we heard them as the perfect chirps
and calls of birds we knew
and knew we couldn’t understand
and knowing that not knowing the language
Was what made the moment so perfect

That is the memory I want to hold onto
the spontaneous metaphor
and you by my side with your dead tired feet
me with a swollen lip and you with a cold
our bellies full of pasta and chocolate