in the thralls of a phantom . . .

"I was alive and had never lived.

" . . .

"Like a house with no foundations, unable to resist the first tremor of an earthquake, my existence had tumbled all around me in ruins.

"I saw suddenly that there was nothing left for me here.

"No refuge.

"No place to hide."

excerpt from Susan Kay's Phantom (p. 384)

For almost two decades now, I have been in the thralls of a phantom . . .

I had meant to immerse myself in the on-Broadway version of this story of love both impossible and lost but, alas, time has passed this opportunity by . . .


Kelsey at l'Opera



But, once upon

an August morning

not so very long ago,

I too ascended the

grand escalier of his

legendary home,

made myself at home

in box ?,

and posed for this photo . . .





L'Opera de Paris at last. . .