California Dreaming: Transatlantic Pilgrims

Pilgrims

We set out for adventure

In the fabled land of the free

Where the eagle rules the skies

And the bear roams the forests

We are transatlantic pilgrims

Come to this brave new world

To walk ancient paths

In search of natural wonders

Expectations

We take our first steps

In a myth-laden landscape

Dreamed into being

By hallucinations of history and hearsay

We strain our ears listening

For lyrical echoes of sunshine and revolution

We scan the horizon looking

For glorious valleys of silicon and wine

Arrival

Our idyllic bubble quickly bursts

As we are spat out

From the airport’s shiny cocoon

Onto tangled spaghetti highways

We pass beneath the shadow

Of sprawling industrial scree

And hungry grey asphalt plains

Below thirsty brown slopes

In Transit

The beacons to our hotel

Are garish neon fast-food signs

Demarcating a red-light district

Of gaudy commercial prostitution

Underwhelmed by first impressions

Sedated by jetlag and traffic lullabies

In our drab-camouflaged cell block

Sleep tests our faith in dreams

San Francisco

Downtown rescues our shaken dreams

Rocked in the cradle of its blue crescent bay

Invigorated by the breath of its green lungs

Uplifted by the colours of its rainbow flag

The city’s arched back bristles with concrete

As cable cars claw their way up deja-vu hills

Bridge arms and quay fingers reach out

To its caged island heart of stone

Tahoe

Near the rim of the world

Leopard-spotted hills and snake-winding roads

Accompany the lilt of Rocky Mountain High

And inspire crisp-aired alpine aspirations

The lake reflects a utopian vision

Of people carving out wholesome lives

Sensitive to the animation of trees

And the living presence of ancestors

Yosemite

Possessed by the spirit of Moses

We gaze in awe at the cloven landscape

Enchanted by the crevasse-cracked horizon

Our faith in miracles restored

Diminutive beneath towering edifices of granite

Silent before thundering cliffs of water

Our passage through these elongated vistas

Shrinks our ego and stretches our soul

Waterfalls

In the distance we glimpse her shadowed face

With windswept hair cascading wildly

Her viridescent gown shapely pregnant

Her cool wet feet wriggling and toes trickling

We wend our way past bubbling cauldrons

Through thrashing splashing roaring ravines

Climbing ladders of stone and rungs of mist

To reach the tumultuous quenching source

Sequoias

Worship comes naturally

Amidst the cathedral pillars and celestial spires

Of these millennial sentinels

Who serve as rope ladders for the gods

With elephantine feet, gnarled toes and charred ankles

Bulbous joints, fibrous skin and tufted heads

These gargantuan elders

Are the sacred guardians of earth’s history

Los Angeles

The home of the stars shines only in the dark

Invention laboratory of smog and gridlock

This is where vanities are pumped up

And overexposed holograms hide

Beneath the enigmatic Hollywood sign

Master illusionists weave magic for the world

While their puppets submit to green incarceration

Under the spell of misplaced heroism

Trees

Elastic trees stretch ever skyward

Roots wrestling for cool slaking tonic

Limbs sparring for ethereal radiant nectar

Plotting their escape from darkness into light

Supple saplings sprout eagerly

Sturdy giants endure patiently

Fallen comrades feed the living

Forests are the book of life

Las Vegas

A luminescent oasis in the desert of blandness

The impersonation capital of the world

Draws hopefuls like a moth to a flame

Blinded by the harsh light of materialism

Yet beneath its gimcrack plastic veneer

Imagination and artistry give shape

To untold possibilities of creation

Unshackled by chains of gold

Grand Canyon

Stepping through the doors of time

Descending the stairs of history

We find ourselves in a colossal gallery

Displaying Nature’s priceless masterpieces

Spilled palettes streak the rocky canvass

Sculpted steeples mark a halloed installation

Erosion-carved veins course brown and green

While ageless etched red faces look on wisely

Flight

Nimble bats and iridescent jays

Acrobatic swifts and circling raptors

Silhouetted gulls and ski-landing ducks

Our wish to fly is why we speak of heaven

As our shiny metal bird takes to the skies

Although our pilgrimage is at an end

We are forever uplifted

On the wings of our California dreaming

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