© Moira G. Gallaga

Her dreams of travel surpassed our own

Talking of adventures in the north, as kids

Laughing and boasting and drinking until day

And bringing her to her knees in laughter

It was Verona she longed for

In the darkest nights she drove, breaking the speed limit

Longing for the wind in her hair

Down to the harbour, where the boats would leave

And she watched them fade away in tears

Waiting for another place

She would walk for miles down the highway

With a flashlight and a backpack

Looking for the little boy she called her man

Who’d promised her everything

Her spirit skimming along the shadows and the tarmac roads

And dreaming in her bed she’d see great pyramids

Under an endless red-orange evening sky

European towers and the river on a cool night

Desert villages filled with spices

Waking up with the window wide and a beating heart.

24 April 2021