welcome home

worn out but so grateful

to view a bit of central Europe

to laugh and enjoy the company

of three generations of loving family

together for a week in Germany

Austria and Hungary

Thank You, Lord

take off

just after midnight

my alarm jangles to rise

to take family to the airport

for a trip to the east coast

they love to travel and i wish

them well as long as they are able

richer by far

 richer by far

for experiencing the Rhine’s flow

and stoney Roman camps turned towns

windmills’ sweeping sails staying flood

close-fit locks, padlock-by-lovers bridge

castles now ruins or renovated hotels

robber toll-takers replaced

by tourist trinket salesmen

elk-colored herds of wild horses

swooping waterbirds

cathedral spires piercing gold sunsets

family on top deck to drink in history

and laugh and bond among ourselves

richer by far                                

Kinderdijk, The Netherlands

Alisa Hampton

Amsterdam

view from my window in Hotel Estherea on the Singel Canal.

home flights

cancellations and complex re-routings

raise anxiety before bending

into engineered tight cubes of space

and silent skirmishes over armrest

for many hours sitting to be carried

cross-nations, cross- ocean

and polar flights to take advantage

of the curve of the earth

suspending believe in time and goal

until finally setting down in native land

ah! thank you!

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traffic in Italy

in Venice, long, slender, black gondolas

each with distinctive hood ornament

pole-oared on one side only

with such skill the length turned corners

with bare inch and a half to spare

and slipped beside one another and other water traffic as jaw-droppingly as

street traffic and pedestrians in Rome

            mjNordgren  12/21/2022 Splendid Venice Hotel