(The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Philip Kaufman)
The doctor drives to a small spa town in the outskirts of Prague.
At the wheel, he sees sun-drenched woods flash by the windshield,
his slanted eyes attentive behind his glasses, his hands steady,
speed slightly intoxicating, car whizzing through the mass of trees.
The gravel is soft under his feet, doors are wide open everywhere,
hallways full of imposing bodies in slips, robes and bathing suits.
Outside, a brown-coated orchestra plays anthems and tired waltzes.
As he sows back the stomach, his fingers tap away to the music,
he pictures the nurse’s breast, the small of her back under the vest,
the perspiration on her hands, the curves of his mouth on her leg.
In the park, he circles the patients on benches and marble chairs,
where two second-hand beauties slide their skirts above the knee
and bring drinks to their lips with application and delicate mischief.
By the indoor pool, he bends and observes a group of old men
play chess in crystalline water, their bald heads bobbing in the light,
black queens and white towers tossed around in aquamarine bliss.
A sudden plunge breaks the silence and splashes his black shoes,
a white body cuts through the water like a knife and swims on,
her legs undulating below the surface, her arms pushing forward.
When she emerges from the pool, a translucent vision of flesh,
she walks to the showers with her bobbed black hair dripping wet,
her gait unasserted, baby fat still clinging to her calves.
In the spa restaurant where she works, he takes a seat in the back,
sees her slap a used book on the counter and tie up her apron.
Embroidered flowers hide the outline of her bra, her skin is pale,
her green cardigan is resting on her arms with a fragile defiance,
her hair still wet outlines her childish face like a mahogany frame.
He hasn’t moved, he hasn’t said a word, he barely looked at her
when he mouths the word “cognac” and stares into her eyes.
She reaches for a nicer glass and feels his stare rest in her back.
Everything is set before they speak and there is a curious beauty
in the meeting of the strong and the weak in a small Czech town,
a womanizer caught off guard and a doe-eyed dreamer daring.