Love locks on the pond

Scribbly Gum

2. Love locks on the Pont des Arts,

Paris, 2014

They are here in hundreds of thousands—

padlocks with names inscribed or printed bold

in light-fast ink. We imagine couples pledging

everlasting love as they click the lovelocks

on the wire fencing of the bridge and throw the keys

into the turbid waters of the Seine.

A notice, vandalised, informs that one in four

French households suffers from domestic violence.

What effrontery to remind that love is fragile, ephemeral,

a mere hair’s breadth away from hate and violence,

in this—well, almost—sacred place.

A winter’s day, light rain, the bridge almost deserted,

we await the love-struck couples who will brave

the most inclement weather to pledge themselves,

without appointment, to eternal love.

Meanwhile the love lock vendors brace themselves

against the wind, like new age priests ready to dispense

the sacraments, give blessings, smile at the ceremonial kiss.

(French Literary Review)