PAD Chapbook Challenge Day 21

Today's poetry prompt from Poetic Asides: Write a "travel" poem. My wife and I took our first ever river cruise this past summer, and we thoroughly enjoyed it, but so far I've only written one short poem inspired by it. It's high time I wrote another.

River Cruise

Our longship cuts a lazy wake

up the Danube and down the Rhine

with the help of dozens of locks

that fascinate us every time,

raising us up, dropping us down

as we navigate a cultural corridor.

Budapest, Vienna, Cologne -

all jewels on this watery necklace

for us to inspect and admire.

We go topside to watch the passing sights -

little towns with scenic buildings,

and once, the trifecta -        

a church, a lighthouse, a castle.

Vineyards carpet the steep hills,

and soon we pass the Lorelei,

 a looming rock on the right bank of the Rhine,

infamous for its hazardous curve

which brought many ships to their doom.

Legend has it that the murmuring sound

sailors once heard while passing through

was a forlorn lover, a beautiful woman

who enticed them to their demise.

We slip through the snaky strait unscathed,

and continue our journey, relaxed.

For once, we have let someone else

do the driving for us, and the cooking,

the laundry, the washing-up.

From the left bank this evening,

sunset cuts through the trees,

and over chateaubriand and red wine,

we watch the wine-colored clouds.