Nine days
Of no responsibility
Except to myself

Nine days
Absorption of
New sounds, sights and smells

Nine days
Of attempting to
Speak and understand a different language

Nine days
1500 miles in a car
Thinking new thoughts, jettisoning old ones

Nine days
9 hours at sea
In calm, chop and rain

Nine days
Awash in negative ions
Toes in the sand

Nine days
And I’ve been burnished
And shine with a new luster