I came down from Uppsala
from the University
unannounced
on a lucky hunch
to Halmstad
a west coast city by the sea
known for Per Gessle
and as Sweden's Liverpool
on a late Friday afternoon
in November darkness all around
waiting outside her door
for her to get home from work
it's twenty minutes after five
snowflakes lighting up the sky
my Calvin Klein jeans jacket is of a
denim that's
Southern California weight
and as soon as I see her
walking up the path
my eyes go wide
I swooned
we embraced
yes we hugged real tight
I whisper in her ear
and propose a road trip
right now
inside and quickly
she packs a rucksack
and in minutes we are
on our way
three days and two nights
on a Copenhagen getaway
falling more in love with each other
moment by moment
with time to play
on trains and boats to Denmark
there's something wonderful
about traveling together this way
then we're coming
into town
get a hotel room
the first we see
it's sort of shabby
but we're under a magic spell
and don't even take note
of it until a week later when the
pictures are developed
at last we're alone
behind closed doors
with windows towards the Tivoli
next time we'll find
a finer place to stay
but for now
we're okay
and it's
three days of making love
outside we're
walking the winding Ströget
where Bruce Springsteen
took out his guitar and started to play
the locals were understandably amazed
getting oversized chocolate chip cookies
feeding each other and
sealing it with a kiss
we buy almost matching soft cotton scarves
and then into a
prim and proper old fashioned
konditori where they bring you
steaming hot cups of cups of coffee
and pots of tea
light metal strainers, spoons, forks and lots of
china plates with cakes that clatter
where will this street take us next
we're ducking into a candlelit tavern
drinking tall glasses of Tuborg beer
and looking deep into each others eyes
and liking what we find there
late that night we sort out all the
sights and sounds of the day together
in a warm bathtub and feather bed
on our Copenhagen getaway

the apache kid