You welcomed me back
With blazing arms wide open
Like an old friend-turned-stranger
In a warm embrace alien
And yet familiar
You, the city that
Transformed me
And I, unrecognisable
After five years of change.
You spoiled me
With spotless sapphire skies
Showcasing your everlasting summer
Each Moorish façade
And sun-baked street
Reigniting old flames
In the hearth of memory
Labyrinthine nostalgia mapped
Before my long-lost eyes.
Mornings bright and relaxed
Scaling your many towers
Admiring your cavernous halls
And gilt grandeur
Afternoons cowering
From your unabating heat
In cool pools of dappled shade
Amongst the emerald gleam
Of magnificent manicured gardens
Evenings observing
The most spectacular sunsets
Atop timber clouds
Treasuring terrific twilit panoramas
And in the thrill of night
Spray-speckled
By a fountain of many colours
Hugged by the glowing crescent
Of a great golden palace.
Sevilla, te amo.
You are an Andalusian jewel
A glorious amalgamation
Of architectures and cultures
A happy marriage of humanity and nature
A long-distance friend
But a friend for life.
My heart aches now with the question:
When will I return?
Emma H, age 26, 23/10/2017
This poem is intended as a follow-up to my previous poem, A Love Letter To Sevilla, and I hope it serves as the perfect sunshine-filled antidote to today’s freezing cold weather!
I spent three months living in Seville during my year abroad over 5 years ago, and I finally returned for a week-long holiday in early October 2017. I expected the return to feel homely and comfortable and heart-warming, but in fact the feeling was different – it was more like meeting an old friend for the first time in years, familiar and yet somewhat awkward. Even though almost everything looked the same, I felt like a stranger there now. That said, I had a lovely, scorchingly hot holiday, and my love for the beautiful Andalusia city remains as strong as ever. If you have never been, I whole-heartedly recommend that you visit!
All of the photographs are my own, a small selection (out of a total of approx. 600 that I took!) to illustrate Seville’s stunning beauty and bring the words of my poem to life.
