Autumn
~ Amy Lowell

They brought me a quilled, yellow dahlia,
Opulent, flaunting.
Round gold
Flung out of a pale green stalk.
Round, ripe gold
Of maturity,
Meticulously frilled and flaming,
A fire-ball of proclamation:
Fecundity decked in staring yellow
For all the world to see.
They brought a quilled, yellow dahlia,
To me who am barren
Shall I send it to you,
You who have taken with you
All I once possessed?

In Flanders Fields
~ John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

My day job took me to Milan for yet another technical conference (I know, my life is so hard). Milan is not one of my favorite places in the world, but it does have one thing which no other city has—the magical studio and shop of Osvaldo Menegazzi, known as Il Meneghello.

I snuck away from the conference on the last day, and arrived at the shop just after it opened in the morning. Reader, I cried. Yes, I did. Because I’d waited so many years to walk through this door, and, at, last I was doing so. The shop interior is amazing—shelves filled with all the wonderful decks Osvaldo has created over the years, and walls covered with his art.

Osvaldo was there, painting at his drawing table. He looked up and smiled as I entered; Cristina greeted me warmly. I introduced myself to her (we’ve exchanged a few emails over the years), and she remembered me!

I spent the best part of an hour (and the best hour!) browsing the decks and the art, as well as the other pieces Osvaldo creates—wonderful boxes for holding decks or other treasures.

I exercised a great deal of self-control (not easy!), and ended up with The Napoleonic Tarot (there was only one copy left, and Cristina kindly went to the basement to search for it), the Views and Trades of Milan by F. Gummpenberg, and the Gioco del Passatempo (a game deck, not a Tarot). I also bought a print of the Fox card from the Florentine Minchiate deck (a deck I already have!).

While Cristina was nicely wrapping my purchases to keep them safe during my homeward travels, I approached Osvaldo at his work table. He was adding a background wash to a print, and kindly allowed me to watch as he worked, telling me about the technique as he went. I can understand Italian pretty well when spoken to, although replying coherently is sometimes a challenge. I admired the work, and thanked him for all of the wonderful art he has created through the years. And, well, I started crying again, which he seemed to be both amused and touched by. He graciously posed for a photo with me.

My heart full to overflowing (as was my shopping bag), I thanked Osvaldo and Cristina, and headed to the sidewalk in front of the shop to wait for a cab to take me back to the conference and my responsibilities. Just before the cab arrived, Osvaldo came out of the shop, bearing a pen. He signed the box lid of the Tarocco Napeolonici!

He also handed me a miniature card:

and said, “Per lei, perché lei è l’imperatrice”, which means, “For you, because you are the Empress.” He kissed me on the cheek, and I swear I almost stopped breathing.

Just then, the cab arrived (entertainingly enough, the same driver who had brought me here from the hotel), and I fell into the cab, elated and overwhelmed, and waved to Osvaldo as the cab pulled away.

I don’t remember much of the conference that afternoon, because my mind was still in Il Meneghello’s magical shop. Somehow, it was evening, the conference was done, and that night I dreamed magical dreams of dancing cards in Osvaldo’s shop.