Dear Rucksack
Dear Rucksack
Written by Helen Burke
I cannot understand why you are so heavy.I cannot understand why you are so leaden.
Today you are shedding baroque tears.
I’ve done everything I can for you.
I have taken you to several traditional restaurants.
You have eaten pumpkin soup with truffles.
A traditional gypsy has played to you.
You have been fed chocolate cake with sweet almond sauce.
You have loitered in dark doorways in medieval Prague.
You have walked where the Golem walks.
You have seen the oldest bed of the Hapsburgs in Vienna.
You have seen the toilet of Franz Joseph –
the one with the little blue horses on.
You have sat on the birthing chair of the Duchess of Duval
who was buried with her favourite horse.
You have been trampled underfoot on the Viennese Underground.
You have been locked in the Hungarian Parliament due to a chefs convention.
You have been asked to leave an art-gallery and a Strauss waltz evening
for fear you were a security risk.
You have inadvertently been left on a funicular in Budapest.
But, I came back for you.
So, why so queasy ??
Like me, do you yearn for Heathrow –
And the complete lack of mosaics, marble, and chandeliers
in the toilets ??