"Did you know
That it's the Rhine?"

But he didn't know;
He hadn't seen it.

"We've got to go there!"
And we meandered through

Wageningen, his simple
Response, "There it is."

For he did not hear the Loreli
Nor myriad other Ghosts;

Nor smell the glacial melt
Of Alpen snow;

Nor envision the vastness
Of Lake Constance;

Nor hear the roar
Of the three falls;

Nor feel the wash of waters of
Switzerland, Germany, France;

Nor sense the edge of the Ancient World--
Rome ended here.

But we stood together there
First, with "Father Rhine."

02/05/2008

Author's Note: A memory March 1971, and I later discovered my maternal ancestors came from the headwaters of the Rhine.

Posted on 02/06/2008
Copyright © 2024 Leonard M Hawkes