HERE IS THE PLACE*

they sealed their love, a nondescript building in a city

that was anything but…Oh Venezia, the tales you could

tell – of the Doges, the Medicis, the Borgias—to name

but a few. Home to explorer Marco Polo, weren’t they

surprised to find his place is now an apartment block

with just a plaque to designate it once his? They wanted

to tour all the bridges until they learned there were 409

of them! They hired a small water-taxi and toured the

canals instead, did an informal bridge count themselves

but gave up around 350 when they realized that some

were only accessible by walking. Dusk was colouring

everything a powdery gold by the time they were

dropped near the Rialto for dinner, still so in love.

*From E. Bachinsky’s poem Of a Time from the book Home of Sudden Silence.