TOURING IN SALZBURG
 

It seems like only last night
when we were sitting in Salzburg
among Austrians.
We were treated like
comrades, or at least distant relatives,
and not like the tourists we were.

Their friends from Berlin joined us
for dinner.
The man was the son
of an Austrian sister.
His father, a German, had died in THE WAR.

Not really speaking their language,
only a word here and there --
like the potatoes --
passed among us.

Afterwards, we all watched T.V.:
The Cruel Sea with Jack Hawkins.

The U-Boats were everywhere.
They called them the Deutschers.
We all cheered for the British.
We drank lots of wine.
My kids fell asleep.

Grim-chinned and husky-throated,
Hawkins passed on with cancer some years ago,
after an awful, seemingly endless, battle for life.

Never really attached to surroundings
with only a few bags to carry,

it's amazing how humans move on.

                                                            © Anthony Hunt

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