The careless tourist
by Deenaz P. Coachbuilder

I gave up my games of solitaire,
those delicious ladies' lunches,
precious moments of meditation,
in the dry heat of Inland Empire summer,
and entered the embrace of
the seductive
evergreen city of Seattle.

Golden wildflowers line the busy freeways
and spring unpredictably
from Olympian mountain crevices.
Douglas firs, ancient mysterious giants,
live in moss-drenched rain forests.
Rhododendron of purple, pink, snow-drop white
and magnetic fuchsia
jostle each other in riotous profusion.

Mighty Hammering Man's powerful mallet
rises and falls, while
along a lengthy corridor of gleaming
glass and metal structures soars
Space Needle, piercing the uneven Seattle skyline,
inseparable guardians
of the city's heartbeat.

The frothy mists of Snowqualmie's thundering waterfall
is a snare to trap my enraptured heart.
And water everywhere,
unerringly flowing home to the Pacific Ocean.

Heady perfumes and gently lapping lakes
crowd out each day
until I forget
the creator
behind the Creation.

How you tempt me, world, as you saunter by.


 

Return to: