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  • thegentletraveler

In a Pub in England

Feb 8 2019

Hastings, UK





You can get sick on cider

And still have a smile on your face

Wash it down with greasy pizza

Imported dough from Italy

Imported company from DFL

Imported hopes and dreams

Inside your rain coat.


And still

Not really know where you are

But that you like

The slight smell of mold

And cigarettes

And wood from a fireplace

And old buildings

And rain


Wandering

Like school children

I could stand in the middle of the street

Looking up

Except that you would save me


From oncoming traffic

So thank you


Each one is good for a pint

And a word

Of wisdom

Or laughter

Or questioning

Noone knows where Colorado is here

But most have heard of California

And for some strange reason

Everyone we meet seems to have lived

In Texas.


Still I treasure most

Coming in from the cold

To old wood and candlelight

To a couple of drunks at the bar

And an apologetic bartender

And a laugh when I say chips

When I mean crisps

And everyone questioning

Should they stockpile baked beans

And canned carrots?


You Americans

Are more familiar with things like this

After all

With the wall and crazies in government

And all that rugged land

And free pot

And guns in the cabinet

And cowboy boots

And violence.


You have been

More on the brink of total and utter collapse

Longer than us here

In Merry Old England

We would think

Old chap?


I dont have the answer

To Brexit dilemmas

And closing borders

And what to do

In the midst

Of total collapse

Of empires

I dont even know how to spell

Loo...Lew...Leui?


I didn't even know

You could get to Paris

By lunchtime

If one leaves right after breakie.


In the face of all this

Random conversation

On dark wood tables

Over candlelight

On barstools

Tasting organic this and that

And gluten free

Pints and ciders


Our big skies

Windswept mesas

Tall mountains

Big ass cars

And fast food

Seem so

Incredibly

Meaningless.


In light of new friends

And possibilities

The world

Is now

Precious

Miniature

Familiar.


Yet at the same time

Incredibly

Indescribably

Imperceptibly

And without words to describe it really


So

Amazingly

Cosmically

Vast.



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