Bicyclette Batavus, Fabrique en Holland, c. 1904

Do you feel that? he said,
how far from home
we are? But the bicycle
didn’t answer, it tipped
slightly against the bench.
The forest shadows
came down to the clovers
in the fields. A train
beyond the canal.
He had to admit like the swallows
he was putting off
his long journey back;
one hundred years ago
in Holland
when they made this bike
their asses were fundamentally different.