Cheerful azulejos and yet
melancholy fado,
sun and yet saudade
seem intractable to crack.
Beside a literal sea of seafood,
salt cod in a stack.
But life here was like here is,
like the 28 that could,
that goes ding-ding, that goes huff-huff, that goes
clack-clack, clack-clack, clack-clack:
uphill everywhere you go
and uphill coming back.