“
Luca leans forward, propping his elbows on the bar table, and I think he’s going to ask me something, maybe what some particularly nonsensical Coldplay lyrics mean: but instead he starts to speak in Italian, so smoothly, the words so soft and liquid, that I swiftly realize he’s quoting some lyrics. The words flow over me, winding around me like velvet:
“‘Ci sono trenta modi per salvare il mondo, ma uno solo perche il mondo salvi me--che io voglia star con te, e tu voglia star con me.’”
I gaze at him, and now I do feel hypnotized. I have no idea what he’s saying--he could be reading the phone book in Italian and I’d stare at him across the little bar table, unable to take my eyes from him.
“That is from a song by Jovanotti. Shall I translate for you?” he asks gently.
All at once, I panic. What if the words are so lovely I can’t bear them? It’s as if he’s casting a spell over me, and I need to break free before it settles so tightly around me that I’m completely in his power.
”
”