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]

BARCELONA :: Gaudi

I
was
never
interested
in architecture.
‘Pretentious’
was the
word
I
had
thought
it would be:
empty jargon in
place of
art.

But that
was before I saw
the Spanish maestro’s masterpieces
blurring the boundaries between
natural and artificial,
imagined and real,
forests and iron
next to each
other
living in
harmonious juxtaposition
like a tessellating
pattern on
the
tiles
beneath
our feet.
Twists and
curves and smooth
carvings make majestic
buildings ripple in the morning
light, stretch the
bounds
of
our
imagination,

pit surreal against
logic and always come
out the stronger.
Tree trunks
support
false
ceilings
and leaves
wrap themselves
around to form railings,
chimney tops,
transform
from
ugly poles
to whimsical shapes
on an undulating rooftop
overlooking a city
as vibrant as
a
sunset,
as calm as
lapping waves on beaches.
Smooth curves and
winding stairs,
vibrant colours
splatter on
facades.
Do
you say
architecture?
I say
art.

BARCELONA :: Oxymoron

Incessant sunlight
And wide streets
Barcelona,
You fascinate me
A jungle of buildings
Flashes of colour
Yet golden sand
like perpetual summer

A beach city
With azure waves
Crashing on sand
In hazy days
Yet just beyond
Is an urban sprawl
Alleyways and
Graffiti walls

Hidden bars
And quiet lanes
Clothes hung out,
There is no rain.
Scattered parks
Bring welcome green,
Trees and hedges
‘Tis quite a scene.

And yet rising
like a mighty wave
Crooked edges,
A living cave
The architect’s
Masterpiece
Is for the eyes
Quite a feast

And others spring
Up in the city
Twisted curves,
White-washed pretty
Roofs and a
Ginger-bread-like house
Rickety pillars
Made to astound.

Surreal landscapes
Amidst the plain
For this, Barcelona,
You are famed
Yet I find you
A paradox,
Where luxury mixes
With stray dogs.

[Written 8/12/16 partially in an unknown garden/park, partially in Park Guell]

BARCELONA :: Sagrada Familia

A thousand spires,
A million bricks
Eternal blood and tears.
Soaring towers
Towards the sky
Allaying all my fears.

 

Tall tree trunks form towers
Standing resolute
Emanating powers
Of Heaven, God and truth.

A hundred years,
And then ten more
Before it is complete,
But even now,
Its splendour’s clear
For all the world to see.

The afternoon sunlight
Shining through stained glass.
Countless colourful rites
In a hall vaulting and vast.

Breathless silence
Reverent gazes
Behold with awe, and stare
At the height, the might
The majesty
Of this precious place of prayer.

[Written 8/12/16. Apologies for the hiatus in posting.]