By Ishmael von Heidrick-Barnes
(Legend says the German town of Esslingen am Neckar was spared being sacked and burned because a conquering general fell in love with a woman from the city.)
Esslingen
Hope is half-timbered
across the Neckar River
Minds float into eyes
before the miracle
named Esslingen
A 500 year old story
preserved as a city
talking out on
a limb
Rathaus red
stopping time in tracks
left
by soldiers saints troubadours
A renaissance of romance
worked out of wood
Nowhere
written
everywhere told:
The town
spared by love
The Swabian heart
conquering her conqueror
Grapeshot crushed into wine
climbing up stones
ears can still taste
chiming peacefully from steeples
Note: Swabia is a region of Germany.
Beautiful. Reminds me of my time in Tübingen as an exchange student (Schwobeländle!). Nice to see the classical German town and country scenes have not changed much.