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No Primus Inter Pares
No Primus Inter Pares
Germans at the Costa Brava they just cannot yield
‘Brava’ the fight and they are conquering once more
Always the first on the beach or the striped deck chair but
The towel goes right up front and then they have breakfast
They claim their place in the sun and colonize the pool
I’m not a racist am German myself light skinned at dawn
Prejudice Discrimination Stereotype or double innocent vision
When too much sun meets a squinting eye of any beholder
Ready with parasol and sombrero and not enough lotion
To make sure I blend colourfully in and pretend I am native
Ingenious maybe but indigenous nowhere near but at my home
Not first under equals just one of the travelling circus’ crowd
I stake my claim forget all about physics in diabolical parable
Parabolic distant same old points and lines but when will I learn
That the sun scorches at high noon whatever I attempt
That horizons only widen when travelling in much truer fashion
Far and further afield immersion in less indifferent ventures
Brings me closer to peace to my own roots unburdens my search
I’ve seen the Taj Mahal under a midnight moon shadow absorbed
The Grand Canyon looked for precious Yellow Stone wisdom
Pyramids at Giza tear gas at Tahrir Square caves in Cappadocia
Never setting sun in Rovaniemi Omaha Beach and trenches in Belgium
I took local busses towards nowhere with no imminent return
No plan no target no defined ambition not steps merely ticked
Call me a voyeur in slums townships or favelas a frotteur with no towel
But I was made welcome once I shed my emperor’s colonial clothes
My luxury problems became smaller when I returned to the start
The gifts of the present the past and my very privileged future
One way or another I cannot and need not shed European origin
But my Universe has become less ignorant and a bit more unsure
23th July 2018
Copyright ©
Kai Michael Neumann
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