A Business Traveller’s Europe


Of Aachen I remember
a long approach, a series
of triumphal roundabouts,
Friday evening traffic
and difficulty parking.

The food was undistinguished,
the bed, as I recall it,
lumpy and unwelcoming.
I had flirted with the waitress
but hardly think she noticed.

On Saturday the market
had gone up around my car,
which - like stranded Gulliver -
I rescued, disregarding
their tiny cries of anger.

Bonn, Cologne and Düsseldorf
awaited, Essen later,
then Frankfurt, und so weiter,
and miles of humming Autobahn
between my disappointments.

David Callin

If you have any thoughts on this poem,  David Callin would be pleased to hear them.