by Paul Hartal
I arrived at the airport under overcast skies.
My wife just died and I felt very lonely, sad
And depressed.
I had a night flight to Budapest from Amsterdam
And the Schiphol airport was quite deserted.
I waited for my plane
In an almost empty waiting room
When suddenly, to my great surprise,
A pretty young woman seated herself
Next to my chair.
I found this rather strange
Because all the benches around us
Were unoccupied and I wondered
Why she chose to sit nearby.
She was silent but I started to talk to her.
After a while I told her my story
And she started to comfort me
With warm and compassionate words.
At some point I gathered courage
And asked her why she sat next to me.
She looked at me with a gentle smile and said:
"I don't know".
But I felt a mysterious presence
And in her eyes I saw glowing diamond rays
Of solace, tenderness and love.
She stayed there for about 20 or 25 minutes.
Then she rose, gave me a hug, kissed my face
And walked away to board a plane.
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ABOUT THE POET ~
A man of many Odysseys, Paul Hartal is a Canadian poet, author and artist born in Szeged, Hungary. His critically acclaimed books include Postmodern Light (poetry, 2006), Love Poems (2004), The Kidnapping of the Painter Miró (novel, 1997, 2001), The Brush and the Compass (1988), Painted Melodies (1983) and A History of Architecture (1972) ., In 1975 he published in Montreal A Manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism. Lyco Art is a new element on the periodic table of aesthetics, which intertwines the logic of passion with the passion of logic. In 1980 the Lyrical Conceptualist Society hosted the First International Poetry Exhibition in Montreal., In 1978 Hartal exhibited his paintings at the Musée du Luxembourg and the Raymond Duncan Gallery in France and his canvas Flowers for Cézanne won the Prix de Paris. He also has displayed his oeuvre in museums and galleries in New York, Montreal, Budapest, as well as many other places., He approaches poetry with the credo that the heart of poetry is the poetry of the heart. A recurring theme of his recent work explores the human tragedies of wars and genocides.
Last updated March 11, 2012