Holland

We planned a trip to Italy, we got so darned excited
We bought a bunch of guidebooks and we learned a phrase or two
We packed our bags and off we went, directly for the airport
As prepared as we could be for something altogether new
We’d mapped out all the prime locations, Rome, Milan, and Florence
We connected with our agent about nine months in advance
We knew this trip would change our lives
We went to classes, husbands, wives
We didn’t want to leave one thing to chance
But when we landed we were in Holland
Italy is what we had in mind
This was not what we’d come all this way to find
We couldn’t change it, we got our baggage
And we began a trip we never in a million years
Could have imagined
We got our footing quickly though, there wasn’t time to take things slow
We got some brand new guidebooks and we learned a whole new language
We met people who we never knew, existing here in Holland
Reluctant as we were with all these unexpected changes
Nowadays we still see everybody all around us
Busy coming and going off to Italy as planned
They’re all bragging what a great time
And they pass around their pictures
We smile and say, «Your trip sounds very grand»
And when we’re honest, we’re exhausted
As we walk the streets of now-familiar towns
A different dream is what we’ve landed here and found
But we have tulips, we have Rembrandts
And we remember that not everyone will know
Such different kinds of beauty