For three weeks in September and October Analia and I went on a cruise between Amsterdam and Budapest on the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers. It was truly the experience of a lifetime. Naturally my senses were on overload. It seemed like everywhere I looked there was something new and wonderful. We saw, castles, cathedrals, and beautiful scenery. My family came to the U.S. from Switzerland and the German countryside made me think of my ancestors and how I came to be. So one day as I sat pondering, the words of this poem came to me. I kept jumping from the here and now to the then and there. It occurred to me that where ever our roots are now, they were planted elsewhere in lands beyond the sea.
Gale L. Wolfenbarger
21
October 2009
Lands Beyond the Sea
Our ship set sail at eventide one bright but
cloudy day.
We'd
flown from home to Amsterdam, a land so far away.
We
left behind cathedrals grand and canals with glass top boats.
We seek the Rhine where castles rise with towers and ancient
moats.
We thrill to see the splendor of days so long
ago.
When wars were fought with the battle ax, the arrow
and the bow.
We wander through medieval towns with
walls of rough hewn stone
And cathedrals rise in autumn
skies, their bells toll in somber tones.
Each river
turn reveals anew wonders to our eyes
As vineyards climb
up stately hills to castles in the sky.
Half-timbered
homes in quiet lanes tucked by the village church
Are set
like jewels by silver pools with trout and golden perch.
We climb the steps where for countless years boots and sandals
trod
To reach the place where safety lay or where they
prayed to God.
We step from now to long ago then
quickly back again
And in that moment our lives are
changed, forever to the end.
The past that once had
seemed so strange when pondered from afar
Has now become
among the things that make us who we are.
Our
families may have come from here or a far more distant land
But here or there we all belong to the brotherhood of
man.
We seek the past to learn the truth of how we
came to be.
Our roots now here were planted there in
lands beyond the sea.
Gale L.
Wolfenbarger
4 October 2009
Copyright © 2009 Gale L.
Wolfenbarger