Aspects of Joy in a Strange Land

After Gwendolyn Brooks    
      
There it was—      
after twelve hours of ocean      
and incandescent clouds:      
sewn patchwork of color      
beyond the portal      
of a plane's window        
       
Momentarily gone        
—American melancholy        
hovering so far from home      
       
I was six—      
a whimper amid adult dialogue;      
my teacup tongue, rattling    
against saucer lips—      
unheard        
       
Gaiety—      
my father, statuesque        
congratulatory        
       
Footing, steep metal steps      
clinking; laughter propelling        
across the concourse—        
teeth in the wind        
       
Holiday! mustn't end!      
Familiar foreigners—      
aspects of joy in a strange land        
       
No! stay to. . .together!      
—hap. .. hap. . .happiness!      
my tongue, rattling—      
no one listened;        
buses, cars      
drove separate directions        
       
We travelled northeast        
toward the coast      
stopping once at a station—      
skipping, lollipop return      
joyful . . .      
       
as two children      
in a stranger dialogue        
whispered,      
       
"Hey! Yankee!        
Go home!"      
~