The Road to Chateauneuf

Photo of Chateauneuf, tower seen through a window
Chateauneuf 2012

Drop me off here, I tell Tom and Serge.

During a long day together in Beaune —

the medieval hospital, tasting wine

in a dim and loamy cellar –

company curtailed my noticing 

and drew attention I gladly gave away.

Just as gladly now, I’ll walk alone

these last few kilometers

back to our inn in Chateauneuf.

Summer’s hay is already baled,

and the slow sinking sun paints 

fields saffron where deer creep

from the forest edge to nibble grass

and white Burgundian cows

low their elegy for the day. 

Now, as I eat blackberries

from untouched vines,

a symphony of cowbells calls my attention

back to me. My true travel happens here

on this quiet country lane, a horse

approaching the pasture fence

to beg a windfall apple,

and all I want to know of France

is this late summer day,

this last golden light

on the road back to Chateauneuf.

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Mary Camille Thomas

Mary Camille Thomas is a native of Santa Cruz who is grateful to make her home on the California coast once more after living internationally and on the road. She studied comparative literature at UC Davis and received a master’s degree in library science from UCLA, which gave her a way to earn a living while making a life among books. Her poetry and essays have appeared in the Monk in the World Guest Post Series, Moving Force Journal, Presence, Porter Gulch Review, Second Wind, Sisters Singing, and The New Story, and she has completed a novel called What Lies Buried about a man reckoning with his family’s Nazi past.

10 thoughts on “The Road to Chateauneuf”

  2. Brilliantly visual and emotional. I bonded with the appreciation, yet sometimes saturation, of visiting destination venues only to find the most intimate and enduring memories to be found on a lane, path, field…on the road less traveled. Congratulations Mary!

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  5. oh Mary this is stunning! I can feel the peace there.

    And it calls me to make the Europe trek while I can. Praying for travel companion.

    cant wait to share this eves parish experience with you

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