27-29 May 1985: First Journey to Hungary (“Eastern Europe”)

Trundle... (Hungary, May 1985 - )

Trundling on from the border

Pulled in, as if by tractor beam

Swallowed by a joyous blizzard of aimless, wandering poplar blossoms

Over many years, they will take me to many sleepy streets

where pigeons coo

and where through open windows

and curtains rustling in the breeze

radios on either side of the street

will lament in unison

the passage of another hour–

the years and streets themselves being timeless.

We will settle in between sidewalk cracks

buckling from the roots below.

We will turn beige and dirty

trod upon unknowingly by spotless soles who

know and care nothing of our journey.

The cucumber slices of life

slowly absorb the vinegar

which they inhabit.

They float downward,

coming to rest,

on the bottom of the bowls

on the kitchen tables

of those same houses

that once greeted their aimless, joyous arrival.

by Richard Andrew Hall

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