EUROPE :: goodbye

It’s almost Christmas! Which means this poem was written almost exactly a year ago… how time flies, aye?

When the wind splatters
On windowpanes
Obscuring Christmas lights
I watch the drops,
Count my blessings,
And prepare to say goodbye

My time in this foreign land
Its mysteries and its myths
Have come to an end.
Almost six months,
A dozen countries,
Memories like grains of sand.

So many times I’ve sat
In awe at splendid sights:
Churches or black bleaches
Colosseums or the Aegean sea
Casinos or perfumed bottles
Castles or rollercoasters

I’ve seen the world here
Beyond my wildest dreams
Braved new frontiers
Crossed a thousand borders
Met strangers and parted
Met friends and parted

Lived in a city
Surrounded by strangers
Spoke a language
I had only heard in classrooms
Walked in darkness and rain
In burning sun or snow fields

Learned to love company
And to be gloriously alone
To live on the edge
Of organised chaos
Each splendid day
Merging into paradise.

[Written 27/12/16 in Reykjavik]

VIENNA :: city of music

Black and white

Like pure white gloves
Gliding across
Piano keys,
Seamlessly jumping
Back and forth—
Staccato!—
Or rolling scales or
Gentle chords—
Legato.

A breath of steam

Crisp morning air
Surrounds proud white
Buildings wearing
Frills and cravats.
Morning dawns.
Raise the trumpet to your
Lips, a triumphant call.

Spilling sunlight

Light the way to
Your great churches,
Your operas and
Temples of music.
Golden halls and
Grand palaces with
Gardens spilling out
Onto high hills.

Raise the baton.

The band is ready,
The reeds are wet
And the strings tuned.
It is time to
Conduct your own opera,
Make your own way.

The city of music
Bids hello
And adieu.

VIENNA :: dawn

Dawn peeks out from the morning clouds
The air is still and silent,
Birds soar high and bells toll loud
The sky is glowing violet

The great palace of green and gold
Sits basking in the splendour
A hundred monarch have built this old
Site that would us render

Awed as I sit beneath cold grey skies
Beside the palace doors
As the sun peeks up to rise
Shining on a realm of lords

It is quiet, empty, cold and clear
The birds hover in frosty air
Ignoring the immense and sheer
Palace, standing tall and fair.

[Written 15/12/16 when I accidentally arrived at Schonbrunn Palace before it opened]