Europe

I love this picture of Michael

and Alex on our visit to Scotland, 

what, seven, eight years ago? Alex

is missing his front teeth, so I think

that makes him four, or five.

They’re standing with my wife

before a palace in what

I now realize is Düsseldorf,

not Edinburgh, although 

it might also be outside Lyon, 

I forget the town’s name

and the name of the palace,

but an 18th century king

built it as a gift for his wife,

who was mad—or no, the king

was mad, or possibly

they were both mad, although

it could be I’m thinking

of a palace we saw in Copenhagen,

as I recall there was something

about the way the turrets

were constructed, or the battlements,

that identify it as Danish,

I forget what century, 

but I do remember 

the charming restaurant

we stopped in afterwards, 

how cold the wine was, 

how delicious the mussels, 

back when the boys were little

and we were all together

that sunny, long ago afternoon

in now I’m thinking Amsterdam.