The Yearning - An Ode to Travel

Vietnam Railway Car in Lan Co Bay Station, Image by Darren A Fielding

I’m a poet, I have been since I can remember.
Always been fascinated with words, how they rhyme & the rhythm one can create with them.
Doesn’t mean I’m any good, but I enjoy it.

In the last few years I’ve slowly been eked away from pouring myself out in prose,
A terrible boss, narcissistic colleagues & the struggles of life have stolen from me.
They’ve stolen from us, Tanzinne & myself.
I want to write again, to let go of the things & feel.

So, I’m challenging myself to write a poem, an ode to travel. Right here, right now.
So, here it goes.

Freedom can be found in any place,
But it seems I’ve forgotten how to look
The longest night with blurry faces
is how I feel I live

But stepping onto a gangway plank
or through an airport scanner
I’m suddenly reminded of why I’m thankful
for my yearly planner

Our freedom finds us when we flight
to yonder seas & places
The scenes we find have been yearning
to meet our weary faces

The me, I truly am, waits ecstatically to greet
When I walk out of that airport gate
& place my feet on a foreign street
I no longer have a speedy gait

I can take me in, I can feel again
I am able to appreciate this slower pace
& find my rest in these finds anew
in the alleyways & foreign tastes.

Travel, you find me, the me I truly am
The Me I sincerely yearn to always be

Tanzinne Walking the Bridge being suspended in the air on Buddha’s hands, Bana hills, Vietnam. Image by Darren A. Fielding