All Aboard

     All Aboard

Who Are Going

       Aboard

I have seen -

The palm trees of Long Beach

(California, that is),

                    standing

Like sentinels,

                    guarding

The good life

Next to the sea

(More so than the hotels

And apartment buildings

                    lining

The gentling beach)

     And like bookends

            to my life

Of travels and travails

              on this

Small planet, grain

Of sand

Itself

As these things go;

The silver snakes of Mull,

                     slithering 

Down the hillsides

            and emptying into

The solemn Sounds of Scotland;

The Sydney Harbor Bridge

From the inside, so to speak

Of enjoyable moments and sights

In this otherwise

Dark prison

Often.

And then the cruise ship,

                      docked

For the day

Sounds its warning horn

For the pleasure seekers

To get ready to get

Back on board

For yet another leg

Of its journey,

                 cruising

In place

On planèt Earth

As it was, before

The Big Change came through

And set in.

All aboard

Who are going aboard

The New Agenda. 

I expect you Californians

To have sorted out

This State

By the time I get back

From the next leg

Of my journey

Across this divided country

Setting it Right

                   And return

To my home 

                    away

From my true

Home

on a far distant shore.