It took 6 trains to get to Plauen
home town of my grandfather
in the former East Germany
First leave Munich
smooth as sea-snakes
riding on winged fast rails
Off and on
luggage and us
long and short up and downs
Scenery from windows
old film strips
we watched in grade school
Reaching the town
sheep grazing hillsides
his stories of shepherding
Arrival at Rathaus, City Hall
they speak English
happy to look up family
Grandpa, number eleven
of seventeen children
his baptism record
Address found
if listed in big book
house wasn’t bombed
We taxi to die strasse
stand before the stone facade
second floor apartment
Finding the homestead
where he began
before Ellis Island
The trains, the sheep, the story
Grandpa never returned
We made it back for him
INSTANT NOODLES 