In love with Sepia.

The first time I saw her was about ten years ago.
October third to be precise.
She was with him...her husband.
I fell in love with her right there and then.
I would visit her at every opportunity, steal an hour here and there.
I dreamed of her day and night, I couldn't function properly, I was totally lost in another world.

'Have you, heard a single word I said?' Are you listening to me? You need your ears cleaned ...?' sighed friends in exasperation.

Then she left.
With him...her husband.

I used to sneer when I heard people say.

'...ohh, it was love at first sight ...
...the first time I saw her I knew she was the one for me...
...when we were introduced, in a split second I just knew...'

Total rubbish I would say.
How can you suddenly fall for a complete stranger, a click of the finger, just like that, and you say you're in love?.

She had returned, unexpectedly, a surprise visit after five years away.
With him...her husband.
Still clinging to his arm after all this time.
I was still in love with her, it's true what they all said about love.
Love is a drug, a daily fix at whatever cost.
I needed to see her...for my fix.

She looks at me directly with her beautiful dark eyes and shares a silent smile, a hint of a blown kiss .
I'm obsessed with her, I desire her, I want to posses her, I want...
My head spins.

'It's a beautiful photograph isn't it, the bronze frame, the patina, perfect, don't you think ?'
'What...'
'The couple in sepia...the newly weds... I think he is rather handsome, don't you...?'

I nod an agreement to a woman in a white dress who silently slipped beside me.
I admit to myself he is handsome... a beautiful couple, so much in love.

'I'm in love with her ' I reply hastily.
'And I'm in love with him' she laughs leaning into me.
'Do you know the history of the photograph?'
'Some...' I tell her, not wanting to admit to a ten year obsession.
'I know he was a first mate...a new clipper... it's maiden voyage from Dubrovnik bound for Valparaiso...taking with him his new bride...' she offered.
'Come, have a coffee with me, let's share a pastry before the gallery cafe closes...we can chat about our sepia couple' she said taking my arm.

I say nothing as I gaze into her beautiful dark eyes.
I want to hear every tinkling word that spills from her luscious lips.
For a heady moment I imagine she has just stepped out from the photograph.
My sepia love, in the flesh, sitting next to me spinning a seafaring yarn.

'... part of a collection of old photographs...around the 1900's, sailing ships setting off in search of a new life...the farewells ...the tears... perhaps...never to return...' she paused mid sentence to stir an empty coffee cup.

'Opps, sorry, I drifted there for a moment , where was I...?'
'Dubrovnik bound for Valparaiso...'
'Ahh, yes, Dubrovnik , would you like to listen to this music? she said.
Tapping my fingers with the coffee spoon.
A polyphonic ensemble,it's what I can imagine him singing to her as they leave the harbour...I don't understand a word of course, it does sound romantic though?' she looks at me with dark weeping eyes.

"Dremli Mi Se Dremli" plays softly as the gallery closes.
I used to sneer when I heard people say.

'...ohh, it was love at first sight ...
'...the first time I saw her I knew she was the one for me...'
'...when we were introduced, in a split second I just knew...'

How true I think.
I knew for certain she was the one for me.
My sepia love, in the flesh, sitting next to me spinning a seafaring yarn.