Escape Route
This I do in summer.
Winter, being least a friend,
is not the companion
I choose to walk with.
I stroll along the Rhine.
It is the route I take to escape
nagging thoughts holding me prisoner.
As I amble under the canopy
of sun and sky, along the flowing river,
between luscious leafy trees,
nature speaks to me and brings a quiet calm.
Cyclists, joggers, lovers holding hands,
young mothers out with toddlers and
babies in prams, swimmers bobbing
and floating in the grey-blue Rhine
are welcome distractions.
I admire the tenacity of a medieval city wall
and buildings still standing after six
centuries.
I brood about the battles, quakes and fires
they have withstood to tell their story.
The lens through which I see the world
lose their grey tint. It is cleansed
by hope and the light of life.
I am whole again before I cross the Rhine,
long before my sauntering comes to an end.
© Althea Romeo-Mark 13.03.15
A River Runs Through It
(Basel, Switzerland)
Basel Separated, yet connected,
“gross und klein,”
thrive on the River Rhine.
The River Rhine,
at times a murky blue,
a murky brown,
flows through Basel City
like blood through veins,
gives life and links
sister towns, and countries.
Witness to history old and new,
city and river have much to tell
about plundering tribal giants,
from north and south,
and death by plagues,
the rise and fall
of European nations.
Beautiful Basel
laughs in the sun.
When it thunders
and lightning tear clouds
and rain swells the Rhine,
Basel refuses to be cowered.
© Althea Romeo-Mark 18.09.2014
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