Love in Paris

Arriving late at the wrong address
a stranger in the street,
Ali, offered her a bed. He lovingly
treated her wounded knee –
that she had fallen on
when searching the sky for the guiding star
at the green borders to Italy.

Her nerves frazzled
by the long march through the Alps
on pills of caffein and amphetamine,
taken by the echoes of her throbbing heart
when face-searched
and feeling so lucky for not looking like any
one of the Red Brigade.

So grateful for a clean sheet
after a week in ditches with crows and crickets,
yet fearing horror dreams of her misconceptions
she fell into a black hole
to be woken up by sunlight
glinting on a tray of golden croissants
brought up by Ali.

In 1981, at the age of eighteen, Csilla escaped from the socialist bloc through the green borders. In the first part of the collection “Red Roots”, Csilla explores her Hungarian origins and the second section “Orange Sky”, relates to her life since 1998, when she moved to Northern Ireland. Csilla's poetry and short stories have featured in Irish and UK literary magazines, two of them in Snakeskin. Red Roots - Orange Sky was published by Lapwing in Belfast and launched at the No Alibis bookstore. 48 pages, Hand-bound at the Winepress, Ireland. Available from the publisher's and Csilla's website: www.csillatoldy.com

If you have any comments on this publication, or questions about it,  Csilla Toldy  would be pleased to hear from you.