Tallinn welcomes tourists;
we are greeted at the pier head
given a free map and picture postcard.
In the New Town
department store windows
hide away their wares,
behind doors of glass and steel.
.
At the handicraft market
a Delboy-lookalike
sells us dolls.
Up Viru's ancient cobbles,
past money-changers and McDonald’s
crowds flock to the Town Hall Square;
jostle for bargain souvenirs
from numerous stalls.
Step away from the crowds;
turn a corner into the fifteenth century --
houses with dirty white-washed walls,
windows with wooden shutters
and three hundred year old paint.
There is peace on the periphery
of humming busy-ness.
When we leave on the evening tide
waves of Estonian enigmas break.
© Gerald England
Composed: Hyde, 18th June 2008
Publication
2009 Sons of Camus International Writers Journal (Cyprus)
