Travel Box

Black as coal, sturdy as rock
everywhere I go you come with me.
Mobile and light and not that small,
with not many faults at all.

You are not as fast as a cheetah or strong as a rhino
but you are quite perfect, just like lino.
You are a traveller, a wanderer of foreign lands
you live on a plane or in a hotel.

You have been from the desert to snow-capped peaks
In five hours you go from Paris to Mozambique.
But when the excitement is over
you’re stuck in a closet until someone unlocks it.

Sometimes from the closet you look at the camera
and see photos of the ski slopes of Norway or the Eiffel Tower.
You see the food of love or drink of doves
and think, Why I am not there?

You start to get packed
and the excitement comes back.
You drive past the airport without stopping
Now on the highway wishing you could go your way.