I
Across oceans of imagination,
Ships, islands, adventures
Carry us away
Into the distances of postcards
And these marvelous journeys
Taking us off of the edges of maps
Into the unknown,
Turn us inside out
And around and around
Until we forget where we came from
And where we are going.
It doesn't matter:
Space and time,
Movement and contemplation,
Work their strange magic
Just the same.
We find ourselves here,
There, everywhere.
And nowhere.
II
A face in the crowd
Gathered to hear the bells
Of Notre Dame
Sunlight illuminating
Matterhorn and Jungfrau
Beautiful girls walking slowly
Passed the bearded men of Ipanema
Silence in the walls
Of Shinto shrines
Stars studding the skies of the outback
Like castaways
III
Untethered, unstrung, unencumbered,
Outward bound,
We catch glimpses of towers
And mountains
Over the tarmac
And dream of waterfalls
Washing away the printouts
And the video screens.
Somewhere behind us
Traffic and transit
Stand still.
Webmail is gathering.
We take a deep breath
And look out of the window.
Thank God the world is disappearing
Into cloud and ocean.
There is still time for daydreaming.
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Author Notes
I wanted to capture in this little piece something of the joys of travel; the feeling of leaving behind the work routines and the familiar commutes, and anticipating new places, new faces, the excitement of the unknown. So much of life seems to go by in bits and pieces nowadays; a glimpse of the Notre Dame, Mount Fuji, mountains and waterfalls, remain in our consciousness like pictures, moments not fully grasped, yet beautiful and promising. An imperfect experience of life is what we are left with; just enough to wet our tongues and not enough to completely satisfy us. estory
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