Abbesses

Perhaps I am the only one

who finds having walked up 

the Abbesses metro station in Paris

endlessly fascinating

37 meters from platform to street

(a fact I discovered afterwards) and winding stairs 

around which to send your words breathlessly up:

“How many more steps?”

You get lost as the path coils around you

One step, two step, who steps, you step

It doesn’t seem to end

It’s only just begun

You drift leftwards towards the wall

aware it is lined with decades of dirt

so you counter to the right

but your foot is conscious

that the step is smaller on that side

so you repeat the process

You exhale and your warm breath

drifts upward; in fact it is already at street-level,

where it has taken a seat

on a yellow horse with a melted face,

spinning around on this overpriced carousel,

waiting for you to catch up

You’ll get there eventually