Open Doors

[FrasMac]

Open Doors

 

The Hook was where the freedom came.
Riding fast, we claimed the land for Scots
Who had come to get some sun into our hearts.
Das autobahn opened up beyond no border,
Ferdinand’s finest ripping past, free radicals
Rocking in their free world of no limits -
At least, some of the time. Food and friendship
Freely fashioned in the Fuhrer’s Karlsruhe, The
Youth long gone, thank God for modern sanity.
I had met two of them years before, tripping
On a Stolperstein. Two castrated wolves, still
Barking back to a blacker Bavaria, before our
Desired progeny cried through her birth canal
Blinking, into a world projecting longing light.
The child though grown, still fights inherited disease.
On one day she cried all day, huge sobs for
All the blood she lost, great torrents of tears
On her remembered mountains. I love her rain,
Much warmer than the rain of home, and so much
More absolving. The sun shunned Switzerland
But welcomed us with open arms to Lombardy.

 

Two weeks later we are back with little Anne
In Amsterdam. We remember fenceless fields in France,
Belgian beer in castles, Italian wine for sympathy,
And everywhere we went were open doors.
Otto Frank would not have wanted this, his house
Caged in sadness, to be the highlight of our holiday.

 

17/11/18

Born out of a motorcycle tour which my wife and I undertook, and my musings on the UK's current arguings over Brexit.

[Tinker]

Hi Mac,  The imagery of this piece ranges from golden sun to dark clouds.  It is a wide landscape showing a rich and tragic history .  I felt conflicting emotions while reading.  I wanted more.  

~~Tink

 

[tonyv]

Remarkably well written. I love the personification throughout the first stanza. How you wrap things up in the second delivers a sense of relief. This took me there ...

Tony

[FrasMac]

Thank you both very much for your feedback. Conflicting emotions is exactly how I feel about the whole political landscape surrounding the UK and Europe at present. On the one hand I understand why we want to protect our own, but cannot help feeling that we are perhaps about to back down on a sacrifice which has already borne good fruit. We shall see. 

[tonyv]

PS -- FrasMac and others, I'm not saying you have to do this -- you can use any spacing you want -- but if you want to use single-spaces from line to line, just hold down the shift key when you hit Enter/Return at the end of a line:

To single space
Just hold down Shift
When you hit Enter/Return
At the end of a line

 

[FrasMac]

Thanks Tony. I had been trying to find the instructions for that!

[dcmarti1]

Like Tony, I felt "there", in both the places and in your own conflict. Loved the alliterations: fenceless fields; Belgian beer. Grand imagery.

[dr_con]

I agree! Beautiful, well conceived and a delight with its internal conflicts, historical allusions, and beautiful images. An absolute delight.

 

J