! ! The Wasted Landing. Thoughts From An Airport In Disarray.

In the hour of our departure O Lord In our beginning is our end To depart is to arrive yet not to arrive at the same hour and place in some other time zone and in our departing is our arrival and to arrive is to depart from where we have not been and to depart is to arrive at where we will not go into the departure hall from where we did not depart into the arrival hall where we did not arrive and the end of all our departures is our arrival that we may arrive at where we did not go and depart from where we have not been. now and in the hour of our departure Lord I Tiresias have foresuffered all on this self-same divan, or tired banquette in the departure hall from where we have not departed, in the arrival hall where we have not arrived, and all our arrivings are departures and all our departures are arrivings departing from where we have not been, arriving at where we will not go the sun shines bleakly through the window panes. into the planes the trim staff come and go, (they stay at Novotel Michelangelo) , laundered into skies we cannot breathe. 'All flights are cancelled'; 'Sorry Sir, this ticket is not valid for this flight'. I Icarus have suffered thus in Greece, in Rhodes, on all connecting flights, in Delphi where I was not warned, in Cumae where I could not go. Passport Control. Do Not Pass This Point. Too hot the sun of Greece that day, the sun I shall not see. 'Arrival Delayed'. 'Flight Cancelled' A cold coming we had of it: the baggage heavy, and the escalator steep, the information scanty and the children fractious, and the people. Oh the people. Cans. Packets. Yesterday's papers from yesterday's travellers. Sandwiches they have not eaten. Tread softly for you tread on my icecream. Now and in the hour of our departure Lord * (re-edited)