to be in paris and in love

AUTHOR: Oriane

EDITOR: Aqibah

ARTIST: Nika

i’m in paris and i’m in love

oh how romantic

it is.

the smell of burnt cigarettes

and flowery rosettes

in my braided hair

and humid cold air.

to be in paris and in love

with a pink nose

with a red rose

and flushed cheeks

because he couldn’t hold my hand

and understand

the affection i had felt when

i was not in paris but i was in love.

i’m in paris and i’m in love

oh how poetic

it is.

i am walking down string-lit boulevards

and i see your ghost next to me in disregard.

i have loved phantoms in the past

but that touch would never last.

you stride to my side

and the light you cast

overrides my shadow

and all i can do is follow.

instead you linger

next to my corpse

somehow more alive

than i have ever been.

i’m in paris and i’m in love

oh how lyrical

it is.

haussmannian avenues

my heart is painted in shades of gray rue.

do you love me less?

was i a girl of digression,

a show of diversion?

i’m in a midnight speckled dress

and i did everything i could

to impress

but i couldn’t ever be the best

and you couldn’t ever say yes

to the superfluous amount of love i had

for you.

i’m in paris and i’m in love

oh how melancholic

it is.

paris held me in her tender arms

but your single smile triggered my alarm

and i fired my every arm

to fend in a hundred-year war

for love, youth, and more.

casualties i could never ignore,

until my heart had been beaten

in every battlefield,

until my serrated weapons

weren’t mine to wield

until my bloodshed feelings

weren’t mine to yield.

i’m in paris and i’m in love

oh how tragic

it is.