Delighting in Basel

Long past sun­down
My train glides in­to the sta­tion
The week­end is over.

Three lan­guages tell me
“Now ar­riv­ing at Basel SBB”
I’ve heard it so many times
I un­der­stand all three without think­ing.

The crowd surges up the es­cal­at­or
The babble of many lan­guages wel­comes
Trains carry every­one, everything, every­where
Back­packs, suit­cases, snow­boards, kids
A friendly buzz.

Trams rumble through the sta­tion
Signs flash… 5 minutes, 4 minutes, …
I’ll stroll in­stead.

Rain drizzles on me
Statues, a park, a cathed­ral, foun­tains
Fa­mil­i­ar now, but still in­triguing
Wind­ing streets, stairs, quiet roads, cobble­stones
Crowds in the res­taur­ants, laugh­ing
Vendors in Bar­fusser­platz, still
The town is alive.

I find my hotel, ditch my bag
Out­side again to drink it in, just a bit more
Bridges draw me across the Rhein
Tight side­walks, tun­nels, build­ings hun­dreds of years old
Church yards over­look­ing the river
A tex­tured pan­or­ama
A city so real, so deep.

Cof­fee and wire­less net­works call me… time to work
It’s Sunday night, dark, and rain­ing
But drum­mers and pipers pass me on a nar­row street
Lun­at­ics.

I love this place.