#x143

They agreed they’d treat it as a date. Just a first date. Like they’d met through a “normal” dating app… Tinder… Bumble or Hinge. They both had a hotel room within walking distance of the restaurant. Separate hotels. An escape plan - for both of them. Neither knew exactly where the other was staying. They’d made every effort to keep their first meeting light. Stress-free. Pressure free.

The dinner itself was lovely. The food delicious. They chatted about life. Work. Hobbies. They left anything too heavy unsaid. No talk of the months they’d spent exchanging messages or pictures. No mention of the desires they’d shared. It went exactly like a normal date would. They laughed. She blushed. He smiled and held her gaze. Their flirting was typical of any first meeting. Tentative. Sweet. With only the occasional gentle innuendo and incidental touches of hands. It was clear they were both comfortable and they held each other’s attention with ease.

He insisted on paying the bill. She thanked him with a smile and a touch to his shoulder. Their gaze held just a little longer.

It was such a beautiful night, they walked together along the street. They did not touch, but they were close. Like old friends. It was like he was walking her home. Making sure she was safe. Just like any first date.

When they arrived outside her hotel, she led him in without hesitation. He followed, not second guessing her mind at all. It felt like a natural progression for both of them. Neither felt obliged to discuss or complicate the situation. They went with the flow. It was easy. Anyone who passed them on the way to her room would have thought them a couple. Typical. Established.

She opened her hotel room door, and ushered him in first. He did not hesitate and walked in with familiarity and ease. He turned to watch her enter. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it.

Alone, finally, the unspoken and unacknowledged tension felt between them sparked. He stood perfectly still as she walked towards him, slowly untying her wrap dress, which fell to the floor in a puddle behind her. His face could no longer hide his desire, when he saw she was wearing the lingerie he’d helped her pick out weeks earlier. It was only then they both realised this was never going to be a normal first date.

Giacomo Leopardi scruta l'orizzonte, ma la sua visione è limitata, ostacolata da una siepe, posta sulla cima di un colle. Ecco allora che il poeta può fantasticare e meditare sull'infinito, conun confronto continuo tra limite e infinito, tra suoni della realtà e silenzio dell'eternità.

L'infinito Sempre caro mi fu quest’ermo colle, e questa siepe, che da tanta parte dell’ultimo orizzonte il guardo esclude. Ma sedendo e mirando, interminati spazi di là da quella, e sovrumani silenzi, e profondissima quïete io nel pensier mi fingo; ove per poco il cor non si spaura. E come il vento odo stormir tra queste piante, io quello infinito silenzio a questa voce vo comparando: e mi sovvien l’eterno, e le morte stagioni, e la presente e viva, e il suon di lei. Così tra questa immensità s’annega il pensier mio: e il naufragar m’è dolce in questo mare. Giacomo Leopardi, 1819

Diversi artisti italiani hanno messo in musica questa poesia. Ecco la playlist.