American Flag

I started throwing up on Capri.
I staggered through Pompeii.
We left earlier than expected
And drove to Rome, that paradise.
And I threw up and threw up,
And got the runs, until I felt like
A spigot flowing out of every orifice.

We went to the hospital and received
The diagnosis: food poisoning
And bambino.

I had taken a test before we left.
It was negative, so I had blithely
Drank my way through two weeks
Of more wine than ever before or since.

But now I was sick and didn’t care
About the Sistine Chapel or
Michelangelo’s Moses,
Let alone Pisa or the Cinque Terra.
I just wanted to be home.
So we flew standby as soon as possible.

And when we landed at Dulles
And I saw the American flag,
My heart leapt for my homeland
As it never had before or since.