From South Elisio drive take the path across the salt marsh
and walk down the left bank of Corte Madera creek
to the Bon Air bridge.
White egrets and black headed night herons
wade the edges here and you feel a sense of
dinosaur time in these graceful creatures.
But we are from another time and waiting for us now
the magnificent French onion soup at the Left Bank Brasserie
in the little city of Larkspur.
Passing through the wetland we hear Saint Patrick’s ring
the noontime hour, its peal of bells
cascading down Magnolia avenue.
And then seated by the warm fireplace
the smell of anise, fennel, and pearl onions
drifting through the winter afternoon.
One spoonful of this soup and you are in the world of
Degas and Manet, James Joyce and Hemingway,
taste dragging memories of a time long since passed.
But we are past memories and past the present
already in an uncertain future
as Saint Patrick’s rings the 2 o’clock knell.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls
said the great John Donne
it tolls now for us, and it’s not going well.