Waking in Europe

by Norbert Krapf

Waking in Europe

After hanging suspended
       between cultures,
                  above valleys
of rolling clouds
        with the Atlantic
                  turning below,
        then spinning
on an express train
        from easy Amsterdam,
I reel into bed
        in a Cologne hotel.

Next morning, as cathedral
bells lift me out
of a first-night sleep,
my eyes open to gothic
towers climbing outside
the window, then skip
down the cobbled street
to the corner where two
little girls chattering
German jump rope.

Smiling, I set my watch
to European time
and tune my ears
to the guttural waters
of the ancient Rhine
flowing behind the medieval
cathedral from the hills
of my ancestors in the south.

This poet historian is describing his experience of being in Europe. The ancient Rhine referring to the famous German river. Being able to relate yourself to a place that still can seem as ancient as a hotel just off the Rhine, requires you to go back in your family's past. He seems to be aware of his Germanic roots. While we all will not visit where our family has come from, if we are able, it will give us a greater appreciation for those who came before.