Orpheus knew, as does our poet Derek Adams, that the Place Denfert-Rochereau was traditionally called Place d’Enfer and that it houses an entrance to the Paris Catacombs … I’m sure you will have gleaned that from this clever poem, on Day 635 of the daily poems.
Orpheus in Paris
I busked the Metro to Denfert-Rochereau,
the feet tapping commuters
burying their heads in Le Monde.
I handed Charon eight Euros
to let me enter the catacombs,
hoping to get close to you
among the piled high thigh bones
and tungsten yellow skulls.
Meet me half way; I’ve come this far for you.
Follow me, soundlessly, out of the shadows;
up limestone stairs and into the city of light.
Don’t leave me, as you did before,
surrounded by white coated MDs
whose beatbox could not carry a tune.
Derek Adams
First published in Envoi Issue 165, July 2013