Trapped in this dusty room.
Trapped in this mortal coil.
Trapped by the cost of freedom
And society’s expectations.
Trapped.
But my mind persists in recalling
The sound of the train whistle
The smell of the jet fuel
Sleeping on the floor of an airport
With a band of other wayfarers,
Our backpacks piled around us like a fortress.
The cool eyes of the customs agent,
One of the sentinels at the gates of freedom,
The portals that we pass through
From this world to the other,
From sameness to newness,
From security to enchantment,
From stagnation to creation,
From death to life.
Have you ever seen the sun rise
Over the Spanish tile roofs of Florence?
So strange . . .
To feel less alive making another bank deposit
Than broke and thirty pounds underweight
Walking down a cobblestone street
In Athens or Rome or Paris or Brugge.
It doesn’t matter where.
Anywhere but here.
The romance is movement.
Have you ever put your feet in the cool water
Of the Trevi Fountain in Rome
And imagined you'd discovered the fountain of youth?
My mind persists in recalling
The road and the simple joy of wandering
And wondering what’s around the next corner,
The rainbow prisms in a handful of sand,
The saltwater drying on sun-bronzed skin,
The quiet peace of music in the distance,
The exhilaration of new romance,
Foreign friends who have no language
Other than friendly smiles,
The simple revelry of children,
The pleasure of watching a foreign city come to life,
Of taking part in existences other than my own
And observing how they make sense of their world.
The glorious possibility of what next.
New sights, new sounds, new tastes.
New people, new places, new experience.
Have you ever awoken
To the view of cotton clouds
Drifting through the China blue sky over Venice
As opera students practiced scales
In the square below?
To have nothing to do and all day to get it done.
To read, write, watch, listen, make music.
To grow in the anonymity of movement and newness.
To do nothing
But marvel at the glint of golden sunlight
On the scales of a mythical sunfish
Floating past our tiny boat.
To gaze into the great blue mystery of the sea
And hear the sirens sing again.
There are two kinds, you know.
Sirens of the sea and sirens of the city.
They are both harbingers of death.
I choose the sea.
Have you ever sat in a Switzerland prairie
With Spring exploding around you?
To do nothing
But hold you in warm sunlight,
Inhale the honey sweetness of your hair
And study the petal smoothness of your skin
With no thought of tomorrow
As if life will last forever.
There, I'm sure it would.
But here, I just don't know.
To be reminded again that security is an illusion.
To discover again that the purpose of life
Is simply to live it completely.
Have you ever read poetry by candlelight
In a cave at the foot of the Acropolis?
Have you ever danced all night
In a Greek island disco
Throbbing with life and lust?
Have you ever walked alone
Through ancient ruins
And felt with an ache
How brief your own existence is
But how sacred and powerful it is
For that same reason?
Have you ever parasailed over the Swiss alps?
If not, by all means, do. But be warned.
You will never be content with normal life again.
How does one ever sit peacefully at a desk
After tasting that kind of freedom?
Honorable winner
Adding your comment:
Tammy
haha...anywayz...I plan on going to Europe this spring or sometime around there...hopefully....but eventually...I can see how all that traveling would make your regular life feel so mundane...Great job on this and thanx for entering! Awesome pictures!
(i'm provoking questions ... lol!)
I think that is just great that you went to Europe and backpacked for 6 months. What a wonderful experience! You must have many stories and many wonderful memories. Thank you for sharing this with us.
