Ode to Wien (2010)

Being back here has been like a dream come true. I can still hardly believe that I'm back. I ran across the poem I wrote when I left Wien in 2010. Perhaps I will try to write poetry again once I have found a place and settled in. A poem of spring might be most appropriate.

Oh Wien! The snow now crowns your buildings

In pure white sheets. Your graceful apartments,

Quaint stores, your hallowed museums - all things

Reveal themselves to me anew. Snow complements

The architecture of your halls, monuments of a time

Now lost, as if they were built for such a purpose.

O Wien! City of music! Always a song is upon the air,

And so every passing hour one can feel the sublime.

Your cafes and parks have offered repose

To many who knew of no city so fair.

Oh Wien! With your lopsided Dom and bright palaces,

Full of history and majesty, you indeed are a jewel

Set in your Ring. Your glory remains, not just chalices

Locked behind glass, though only a fool

Would deny their beauty is a testament to your might.

No sleeping giant, you are alive and well!

You have grown and continue to be a part

Of the modern world. Yet still, at night,

Walking home on cold streets I hear the bell

Of a church, and I know the peace in your heart.

Oh Wien! So swiftly your seasons came,

My time here has passed suddenly, I feel

Bewildered - like a dream I recall the same

Day I arrived. How could I know Time would steal

Away and slip through my fingers? The heat

Of summer gave way to cool autumn in one day!

Oh Wien! I knew you well for three seasons.

How I wish I could see your spring and meet

The new flowers as the frost melts away!

Why we must part now confounds my reason.

Oh Wien! Must I tomorrow fly to another land?

When shall I walk your streets and see

Your markets - Christmas and otherwise - and stand

Again before your palaces and halls and be

Once more enthralled by your beauty?

Not soon enough! But I shall return.

A new year for me was begun here,

I learned and loved. Now I must see

This is not the end. A light will burn

In my mind, recalling everything most dear.