Starting Out
by Pamela Den Ouden
 
 
Distance names this country
Slaps numbers on a map
Miles from Somewhere
Or Nowhere
We make our watery way
From number to number
Mile after mile
Trees wave to us from shore
Like friends we leave behind
Watching us slip away on the river
No matter--farther downstream
Their relatives line the banks

To welcome us to their home

We drag with us
Those things that possess us
Suitcases filled with the past
Our hopes a small satchel
Kept close for when weather's foul
Staying and leaving
Eating and sleeping
We breathe the air of new adventure