Get 'Em Where They Live, a poem by John Grey at Spillwords.com
Markus Spiske

Get ‘Em Where They Live

Get ‘Em Where They Live

written by: John Grey

 

I traveled the Danube bikeway,
peddling through forest,
by vineyard and castle,
past monastery and farmland,
through Bavarian villages
and Austrian burghs,
fast enough to keep
up with the current,
but not so quick
that the romance didn’t
lap over me
like precious water
did the banks.

Yes, I stopped altogether
from time to time,
crawled into my sleeping bag,
or wandered into an unmapped town
for coffee and torte
and some people-watching,
men and women in ordinary dress
but costumes to my imagination.

And I heard,
through wide open windows,
a small orchestra rehearsing
in a room on the second floor
of an opera house,
window wide open,

Hearing Mozart and Strauss in Vienna
was like being invited
into the homes of the composers.

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