Tonight's Poet Corner: Sonnet Solstice #235

My Stomach

by Belinda Roddie

My stomach was in knots as I boarded

the plane to Portugal. My family

had said goodbye and planted me with red

and soggy kisses as I took my leave

of them. I landed in Lisbon and found

myself hearing words I didn't yet know,

yet I would grow familiar with. A pound

or so of fear weighed on me. "Here I go,"

I thought to myself, walking down the ramp

and seeing my girlfriend holding a sign

her brown face lit with a huge smile. I clamped

down on my suitcase handle. She was mine

at last - our first encounter in a land

I would grow to love, while holding her hand.