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Zürich
by Richard VinceAcross one sea and two land borders
He travelled: Harwich, Hoek van Holland,
Venlo, Basel. From delta to gorge
To mountains, miles of unfamiliar
Country rolled out before his
Still youthful eyes.
It is an age old story:
A stationary heart is suddenly moved
By a stranger’s smile; eyes extinguished
By the familiar are reignited
By a new flame.
Many journeys I have made have
Eclipsed their destinations;
Perhaps this was the same,
A chase more thrilling for
The course than the quarry.
When the destination always
Seemed so distant, what does one do
When one arrives? Where is there
To go other than back?
The journey home could have been
A metaphor: uncomfortable train,
Delayed crossing, stops at countless
Stations for no one to get on.
The storm clouds could have
Gathered above his head.
The numbness was new:
Not the tired weight of endless
Dull days, but the frozen ache
That grows when a heart is
Left in a distant city.
Perhaps it is still there; able to
Travel only upstream, holding
Tightly to a single ticket,
Single minded in its love.
12/30/2017 Posted on 02/05/2018
Copyright © 2024 Richard Vince
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Glenn Currier on 02/09/18 at 04:16 AM It was fascinating to join this journey and to experience it with flashes of my own past, especially on trains - for which I have a special kind of enchantment. Some lines that captured me and my own journey were: "eyes extinguished
By the familiar are reignited
By a new flame."
Then I came to the end and realized that this was really a different kind of journey and I was left wanting to know about that single ticket. Cool poem, Richard. |
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