Sweet Loneliness and the Solitary Traveller

 

A sigh begins my game's refrain,

Check-In counters are all the same

at the airport Check-In counter.

 

A certain sense of anticipation,

a frisson, perhaps, of hesitation ...

do I really need to go, do I ?? ?

 

The answer is of course a “yes,”

notwithstanding timorous distress

at the rapid retreat of my comfort zone.

 

Two hours later and climbing out,

suppressing a growing urge to shout;

instead I review the situation:

 

Strictly speaking my mood is chronic,

countered somewhat by this gin and tonic,

and a growing sense of freedom.

 

Slowly but surely the blackness fades,

replaced by various pastel shades,

awareness forms: to Canada once more!

 

No more niggling forms to fill,

no stultifying University drill,

just me, a book, and the sky.

 

These conferences, both good and bad,

mean plenty of travel; I should be glad

to be on my way to brainy stardom:

 

Part and parcel of academic life,

“On your way, or hello strife!”

gets one's undivided attention.

 

But I mustn't complain, too late for that,

distance breeds freedom from the autocrat;

sweet loneliness a bold replacement.

 

Two weeks from now I shall return,

fighting fit with cheer to burn,

like Gen. MacArthur at Leyte Gulf.

 

Universities have much to say

on how their workers spend their day,

but not from ten thousand miles away.

 

Chris Hubbard

2020