En V.

It's that look in your eye, biological,
that causes me to walk your elbow through the crowd
on the Piazza San Marco, past
the booth selling guidebooks in Estonian
and Xanth, past
the Tom Cruise figure in the Carnivale mask.

See, I told you that the guy was short.

O, but it's because, you and I, Missy, have a date
on the happy side of the Bridge of Sighs,
and I, for one, will not be late,
though perhaps underdressed
fashionably,
at the just right just in time.

Please wear a mask
for I love how owl feathers with your eyes.