Journey

Do you love travelling ?

I guess, Yeah.....!! We all do.

Narrate one of your memorable journeys you did in recent times.

Any length and any style.

Must be a new one.

One entry per poet.

Arrival

We came to Chicago across the plains of Illinois.
I was in the back, and Brian and Kathy in the front
became silhouettes against the blood-glow of sunset.
On each side, disappearing for a thousand miles into the darkness,
lay America, country of the road.    
 
As always, I thought of Chuck Berry, Ray Charles,  
Jackson Browne, Paul Simon,  
and so on, and so on.  
All of those voices which brought America to us  
on our cosy European island.  
And the voices told us of another world,  
a world of high-schools and sidewalks,  
homecoming queens and fire roads,  
motels and freeways,  
drive-ins and liquor stores  
and deserts and canyons.  
 
And suddenly we were in Chicago,  
looking up at skyscrapers,  
plunging into Carl Sandberg’s ‘city of the big shoulders’.  
Then we were driving down Halsted,  
yellow sodium lights
laying everything bare.  
 
We found the place we were looking for.  
We stopped and got out.  
Through the locked door, an empty hall and a staircase.  
I rang the bell, feeling tired, jaded, irritable.  
Down the stairs came a girl,  
blonde-haired, suntanned, smiling,  
a crisp white shirt with an upturned collar,  
blue jeans - a weary traveller’s dream.  
Deborah, no movie star ever made a better entrance.  
You made it all work.  
You gave joy and life.

- Jerusalem, O Jerusalem! -

I promise you,
I'll be back again
I'll come again for you some day
I promise you
I've promised you
that I'll comeback for you again

My Golden Lady
Ancient walls surround
this golden city of mine

Scared city,
smooth stones pave the way of the righteous
From all creeds come to holy houses of hope
to find the promise of Gods

I'll come back to you

to the crown of the world
perched atop a mountain
between forests of enlightenment
and badlands of truth

pilgrims guide the light of immortal flames
that burn through pious hearts and holy minds
to consume peaceful hands and gentle lips

She is at the mercy of the flames
yet still she shines bright
for every creed
every ideology
every lump of flesh and bone to see
the beauty held by her
her charm
her spell


I promise you
   the envy of man
I've promised you
   the lust of holy men
I'll come back
   a king of the hill
I'll come back for you
   flames consume all

Golden Lady
Sacred City
Holy whore
A mother to all

We've promise you
We shall always return
more and more
and more
and more
like logs to a fire
more fuel to burn
an eternal ire
consumes all

The Kingdom I Came To Know

walked to the temple of wisdom
to get my blessing from the masters
walked so long, walked so hard
I forgot where I was going and ended up
in a wild forest infested with fairies
under their pixie spell
I fell into a sleeping serenade
and awoke with a glow around my head
I had become enlightened
and I frightened all the demons away
I took my sweet good time playing king that day
and I looked upon the world as my kingdom
I was welcomed home with angels singing

Lost in Italy

what am I dreaming of today
where has my mind transported me

the dingy fountain on the porch
has become one in a grand palazzio
I sit at a cafe near the Duomo
watching waxy-golden light
drip onto dove-gray spires
men sprawled like stick figures
in wrought iron chairs

oh bella lingua
the musical legato of the language
tickling my orchestra-hungry ears
si, buon giorno, grazie
Tuscan coffee and siesta
filling the open mouths of tourists
while peals of sunlight ripple
the exterior facades of grottoes
and churches

this white-marble cloud of a city
water lines backed into houses
like rosaries etched
beneath pale throats
sable rooftops of intertwining arms
enveloping Florence
in a sensual embrace

a young count with silver-gray eyes
like the afternoon light is courting me
oh do you love me, il conte
naturalmente, signora
mi bella amare

he tries to kiss me but I pull away
are you timido he asks
no I am not I reply
he laughs at my abruptness
the black-velvet cadence of his voice
slipping down the tongue of the street

oh, do you love me, il conte
si si, naturalmente, signorina
then please
take me with you

Oh wow, I really wasn't expecting this! Thank you so much Zombie for hosting this wonderful contest. Congratulations to Ceejay and J_Alex for their beautiful entries, and excellent work to all who entered. Again, thanks so much. Peace and love to everyone.

Well done, LG.