Solace

How comforting it is not to be vacationing this year
Meandering through Grecian lanes 
Or ascending Alpine hilltowns
Graciously saved from the perennial debate 
Of a relaxed holiday in paradisiacal Europe
Or recharge the batteries driving down the Sunny West Coast 
I roam about in the familiar streets
Drinking friendly fragrances
Wander through the local market
For the first time taking notice of every billboard
Trying to grasp the meaning of every road sign
Here, there are no secret alleys to explore
No crumbling frescoes fascinating enough 
No solitary and seemingly empty sarcophagus
From the ashes of seven dead cities,
My city boringly arise like a phoenix 
And curled on the couch
With a cuppa coffee by my side
I am happy to drown in the 'City of Djinns'
I'd rather command the simple precinct of my home
Than be dwarfed by pillar, arch, tower or dome
Why feed scenery into a hungry one-eyed camera
Eager to gobble up the world
Where's the need, to walk down the history
Laced up in touristy shoes, a crumpled cap
Perpetually bent over a wrinkled map
No more looking for someone willing to photograph me
Or fretting over insta-worthy pose
No puzzling over the bill
Or any pressure to update the journal
Or constantly looking up the dictionary
To overcome the language barrier
This summer instead,
I plan to do something cool
Cook, write, read, sleep
And in the leftover time
Paint dreams on the canvas —
Lemon, pastel peach, powder blue towns
Tumbling down the Amalfi cliff
Summer lazing languidly
Over the warm, lemony beaches
Let me steal some of that leftover time
And color the canvas
With my heart’s longings...

July 14, 2020