The Ink-Stain (Tache d'encre) — Volume 3

A wandering narrator drifts between the sun‑lit streets of Milan and the wistful promise of Florence, his thoughts tangled with the memory of a charming woman whose smile seems to steer his every impulse. He toys with grand gestures—disguises, sonnets, secret deliveries—only to halt, asking his own inner counsel what a melancholy friend would advise. The result is a restless yearning that propels him toward a return he cannot yet rationalize, leaving his plans hanging like unfinished verses.

When he finally boards the night train to Paris, the city unfurls in glowing, red‑streaked steam, a surreal carnival of gas‑lamps and distant lanterns. Yet the next morning the capital feels hollow: shuttered shops, silent squares, a cold mist that clings to the Seine. Amid this eerie stillness he returns to a familiar flat, its dust‑coated furniture reminding him that life has continued unchanged while his heart has been elsewhere, inviting listeners to share his quiet, introspective journey.