Autobiographical Tidbits #2: Castle In The Sky Poem by Alexandre Nodopaka

I saw it not in my country of birth
but my third country of emigration.
That country was Morocco.
I was seven years when I clambered
round my first mosque.

From then on I have been living
on cloud nine of my memories.
Of course I don't exactly remember
how I felt then, except that I played
with what to me was my own

castle in 1947.
I don't remember ever seeing anyone
but my lone self climbing daily
the sloping ramps
of the Hassan Tower.

Well, I take it back.
I met some soothsayers at its foot.
More on those another time.
All along the climb I'd peek out
the tall narrow openings and take in

not the breathtaking views
but the height I climbed.
Once at the very top I'd crawl
on my belly and elbows
to its crumbling edges and look

straight down
one hundred and forty feet.
At that age it amounted to twice
an adult's height.
I don't even remember

being impressed nor knew
that its construction dated to 1195.
As a matter of fact
the square minaret was my personal
sandbox

just a few minutes running distance

from where I lived with my parents.
At the Hotel Mon Plaisir.
Unbeknownst to them at the time,
a by the hour house of pleasures.

~~~