ARMCHAIR TRAVELLER

I must have watched that segment from Eat, Pray, Love a dozen times
you know the one that takes place in Italy?
I haven't yet been to Rome, but I have savored other cities
and trodden other cobblestones in Paris, Brussels, Galway, London

have baguette, will travel: under the arm or in a basket
oh, the cheese and bread and chocolate in Paris
a city summed up in three food groups

you've never had a Belgian waffle until you've been tempted
to succumb to the smell of the street waffles in Flanders

the winding roads of Ireland
with their sodden pavement and wet sheep
require warming with ales and making stout with fish and chips

I could eat scones with butter and clotted cream and lemon curd
with Earl Grey Tea until I sunk to the bottom of the Thames
and my eyes would never tire of the golden glow inside St. Paul's

and even if I were wealthy enough
to see all the cities of the world before I die
there will come a time when my traveling days will cease
when I am too old or too sick to tour
but who says my Passport will ever be too full
or my wanderlust interrupted?

no matter where I make my home
I will always be homesick for those places that I have loved
and in my mind I will go back
and the Passport of my heart will be stamped
again and again and again