Germany 1968 Poem by peter rodenby

Gelsenkirchen

Sheltering in a telephone kiosk
Out of torrential rain
Secure from thunders lightning strikes
And a summers saturation
We watched spell bound
A city street of our dreams
A storms climax
Crushed together
Two young things
Embracing friends
Brief eternity our own
A life time ahead to forget the passion.

Dusseldorf

An old lady talked to us
about her life.
In the war all she ate
For months was potatoes.
There were air raids every night
It seemed unending
Her city destroyed
But she survived
Without bitterness.
She spoke to us unprompted
Children of her enemy
The skeleton buildings
and smoldering ruins
Had all been replaced.
Her family could not be rebuilt.
She talked to foreign strangers
Because she was alone.