Barajas Airport

Adult Children, All Poems, Barajas Airport, Family, Grandchildren, Trips and Places, Valencia

All Night I Wondered

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All night I wondered.

Would Ari and Katusha make the connecting flight?

Madrid to Valencia.

Maybe more a worry, concern.

For I remember all the steps.

Second security.

Distant terminal.

Even getting lost.

But the text received reassured me.

They, on the Valencia flight.

While I pace Parterre Park.

Then Glorieta.

Waiting with palms, ancient Morton Figs.

Cooing pigeons.

Children marching off to school.

Waiting, sweet taste on the tongue.

Birdsongs in my ears.

My son, granddaughter on their way.

Unease disappears.

 

Lynn Benjamin

January 29, 2024

All Poems, Barajas Airport, For Children, Humor, Trips and Places

How Can I Describe?

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How can I describe it?

Lingering seven hours in a lounge.

For a 4pm flight to Valencia.

Due to board at 3:25.

Bolting out at precisely 3.

Hunting for Gate K 84.

On the floor below.

Elevator refusing to stop on the necessary floor.

Descending only to ground.

So down we went.

Then up again.

Finding no signage for higher numbers.

Only through K 59.

So we walked

Picked up pace.

Clipped along.

For fifteen minutes.

Till we spotted the gate.

At the furthest end of the terminal.

Monitor flashing.

Boarding at 3:25.

Which came, went.

At 3:40, I queried the attendant.

Is the plane here?

I don’t know, he answered. It’s remote.

Dawning on me we’d have to mount a bus.

To an airplane somewhere on the tarmac.

Close to 4, we marched down steps.

Rain pounded outside.

Pelting windows, roof of the bus.

As we rode to the local plane.

Climbing slippery steps.

Waiting our turn to move.

How can I describe it?

The airport, it is grand.

Lots of people getting lost.

Ask me, you’ll know firsthand.

 

Lynn Benjamin

January 8, 2024

All Poems, Barajas Airport, Emotions, For Children, Wisdom

It Surprised Me

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It surprised me.

Our Boeing jumbo jet dispatched passengers to buses.

Waiting on the tarmac.

Instead of pulling up to a jet way.

It surprised me.

The crowds traveling on January 3rd.

Infants to elderly.

Generating long lines.

At passport control, security.

It surprised me.

How much time it took to maneuver through the airport.

Find our lounge, our gate.

It surprised me.

The enormous size of the Iberian Club.

As though expecting hoards.

It surprised me.

It was fifty degrees in Madrid.

Even though it was January.

It surprised me.

It took only six hours.

To fly from New York to Spain.

Where everything was different.

But then, what would adventure be

without a single surprise?

As long as it’s not hurtful,

surprise can energize.

 

Lynn Benjamin

January 7, 2023