The Smell of Soap

In a hotel bathroom

The croissant of questionable origin

At the downstairs lobby breakfast

The bedsheets that seem clean

And the mattress never

as good as home,

but sometimes good enough

and the window unit that means

I will wake with a head cold

the standard in-room coffee service

that led me to usually pack

my on coffee maker.

The excitement of being

somewhere else

and yet the true joy

of returning to our humble home

between the city and the forest,

where all the food

is exactly as I like it,

the bed is perfect

and if the sheets need changing,

it is my sweat that makes them so.

The lure of the road is strong

until I am on it