SCHIPHOL AIRPORT AMSTERDAM


I have passed through Immigration
minus two cans of Heineken saved from the flight
I must travel onward in sobriety, then.

The Meditation centre attracts my eye;
such a surprise to see a little room
set aside for prayer in a busy airport.

I pick up the Dutch/French/English Bible
and open at the Book of Matthew
David Suchet could read it better than I

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea
- news to no one but me.

I've got a 6 hour stopover, shouldn't
I be heading for the delights of Amsterdam -
the canals, the museums

I can travel all over China
but Holland, the Netherlands -
a short hop over the North Sea -
seems a bridge too far

Safer, more sensible
to rest after the long Beijing flight
and hunker down in my sun lounger
and dream of delft, leiden, breda.