3:00AM wake ups,
battling a lucid
dream state
as it lingered,
trying its best
to pull us back in.
awkward first
few moments
of the Uber ride,
how the jet fuel stung
as we breathed it in,
and the frantic rush
to get to our gate.
as we walked down
unknown ancient streets
discovering tastes,
smells, and sights
that we never
before knew existed.
we once knew and
all the ways it
forever changed us.
For now we sit,
helplessly caged,
basking in our
wealth of memories,
waiting for someone
to bring us the key.
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Life is kind of normal here, in the Portuguese countryside. There's plenty of people around here who actually hug others and are open minded enough to not buy into all of this depressing fear mongering. It's still impossible though to forget about 'the thing' for an entire day, as there's always reminders, from the mask signs to whatsapp notifications and so on and so forth.
This is a beautiful poem and I wish that you can start traveling again soon, even though I think things will never become 'normal' again, if normal ever existed ;<)
I plan to do some micro-traveling soon, from my hamlet to a town with about 1500 people ( I need a change of perspective, less isolation ) but, first of all, I will spend some day at my twin sister's place, starting tomorrow.
Take care, Eric! ✨
Thanks for the kind words about the poem! You're in a great part of the world right now, Vincent. I think those who're away from the population-dense cities have a better chance at living a somewhat normal life.
I share your opinion. Now that people are conditioned to this I don't know if we'll ever see things return to the way they were before. Those in power have learned what they can get away with and the residual damage this has done to people psychologically and financially will be with us for a long time. It'll be similar to how the Great Depression scarred that generation.
I'm sure you're ready to venture back out into the world! We've been thinking about getting a camper van and traveling around the US for a while until this subsides. I can't work anywhere with a WiFi signal so it'll be doable.
Thanks so much for the comment and I wish you and your family well!
I'm sorry I got to this one late. I like how you walked us through all of the senses. It really put me there. Good work.
Sorry to change the subject, but would you mind if I posted a link to your profile and told a bit of your story on twitter? I talk to writers sometimes about joining the blockchain and I think your story is a good example of one way writers might use the blockchain for various reasons.
Thanks! It would be fine with me if you'd like to posted a link. I don't think nearly enough creatives are utilizing this platform to its full potential to grow their audience/careers. I literally went from working a day job and writing part-time for over twenty years to a full time writer in the timespan of a year-and-a-half.
Ah, I wasn't sure where it was going at first, but then I got it. I miss travelling too. Not so much the flying, but just being able to go somewhere and go out. We have been doing a little bit of travelling, but we are being careful to avoid the high impact areas like restaurants and bars which really sucks when you are on vacation trying to cut loose a little!
Ugh, I miss socializing too. We haven’t seen some of our friends at all this summer. We’ve decided to pause our traveling for a while but do venture out to restaurant patios from time to time. How was your camping trip?
It was really great. We have another one lined up then I will be doing some posting so keep an eye on my blog!
I'm glad to hear it! We're researching all we can about campers/camping right now. Of course Google's analytics is filling my newsfeed up with horror stories of people who've taken up the van life and failed miserably. Google = Buzzkill. I'll be watching for your posts!
You should check out the https://www.rv.net/forum/ forums. Lot's of great info on there from people who are actually out living the life, not just staff writers doing spotlight pieces. Just don't get sucked into one of the tire debates!
Your poem take me down memory lane sometimes.
we once knew and
all the ways it
forever changed us.
For now we sit,
helplessly caged,
basking in our
wealth of memories,
and waiting for someone
to bring us the key.
I really need life to come back to normal. I miss normalcy..
I need a life right now
Getting back to normal life would be amazing. There’s so much I’ll never take for granted again after this.
The 3am wakeup call had me a tad puzzled but as I read on I remembered how we sometimes had to get up early for a long trip! Will our world ever be the same again?
How long are we going to have to wait?
But let's just make the most of what we have now and look at the little blessings around us.
For some reason we always ended up on super early international flights to Europe until we got smart and started booking evening flights so we could (attempt to) sleep on the plane.
It’s going to be a while before we can travel from the US the way things are going. When a vaccine is available things will start to turn around. You’re so right, being grateful for what we still have will be the best way to deal with things in the interim. Blessings still abound.
I miss the person we were and now are no longer! This 2020 came and broke our world in two: what we were and what we are. On this side, as you say, we remember those moments when freedom was part of the journey. Like birds, we were born for flight and being still is like being in a cage. I read your poem and I think: Hopefully, soon...
Greetings, Eric.
Thank you Nancy! Yes, soon! I’m thinking it’ll be next spring at the earliest for us.
I miss it all.... Would things ever return back to normal or is this the "new normal"?
Me too! I think our world will be changed forever in some aspects. Travel will be a lot more expensive going forward. The sharing economy (Uber, Airbnb, etc.) will change too
as people will need time to regain trust.
True
Nice words and just seem to be from another time these days. Only now we can appreciate what we had before unfortunately.
Thank you! My wife and I traveled pretty extensively for two years. We're very thankful for those memories.
Promoting Hive on Twitter.
Great poetry I myself am ready to travel the world myself so much different places to see that are beautiful yet different