Creeping up swiftly
Time travels deftly
Carrying us along
Whether we would
Want to go or not
We have no choice
The nights roll by
Hours die daily as
We grow older one
Journey at a time
In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Tourist Trap.”
I was born in Africa
And met family in England
I farewelled my mother in Scotland
And danced in Hungary
I have worked in Germany
And holidayed in Fiji
I have lived in Australia
But I have never been to
The United States
Next stop!
With Canadian Rocky Mountains thrown in
A game we play
Dad, Mom, daughter, son
When traveling near or far
If yellow car be seen
Yell ‘Spotto’ and earn a point
When journey’s done
Most points wins the game
A single bus and then repeat
In a straight line proudly stand
Awaiting their journey’s start
At leisure while in another place
Travelers anxiously strain
For a glimpse of that expected view
Hoping for that splash of yellow
Or maybe today, perhaps, there might be red?
My grandfather, before I was born
As a teenager went off to war
He left his life in South Africa
Kissed his home and parents farewell
Captured, became a prisoner of war
Worked in fields under fear of death
(Would never deny another a morsel of bread
Because he knew what hunger would mean)
In time, an end was declared
Waiting game had to be endured
To be transported across the seas
Back home to family and peace
He met my grandmother
In Scotland while he had time
Back home they began to write
Until he requested her delicate hand
Her parents agreed
Back on a ship he returned
They wed in Scotland, and he took her away
He twenty-seven and she nineteen
My mother was born
In the Cape of Africa with a view
Of Table Mountain standing tall
A formidable witness for all
My father lived in another place
And as with my mother’s mother before
Her parents acquiesced with his request
For her to be wed, and to be taken away
I was born in Johannesburg
Which is another story to tell
I grew up in Africa
Was blessed by the land
Like my grandmother did so many years ago
And then my mother followed suit
I kissed my homeland and family goodbye
And started a life somewhere new
Poems and Petals 