afternoon sun pours
through horizontal brown slats
and patterned green glass
giving me verdant textured light
next to slender rectangles
of the outside world
where workers steadily carry brick
walls climb higher,
women move along
hips sway under loads
balanced perfectly on head
sprouts of vibrant color
in dust filled streets,
children sit in door way
passing time, watching
young man adeptly maneuver
bicycle through rubble,
street dog adjusts himself
in the pile of warm sand
near cube of neatly arranged brick,
jaunty push cart spills with colorful wears,
truck passes with a honk,
solitary peacock glides from roof to tree,
power lines swag from
pole to pole, house to house
smoke rises from incense and cooking
to feed body and soul
I can see all, but no one can see me
through horizontal brown slats
and patterned green glass
Mmmm.... thank you for that Sarah. I was instantly transported back. I could feel the ever present heat surround me while my feet stay cool against a stone floor. I could smell the dust and sweat and petrol and humanity and see the subtle sway of sari-clad beauties and the glisten of sweat on honey-brown skin. I could hear the universal smile bringer of children laughing mingle with the crisp ring of a bicycle bell and the unmistakable tones of a passing lowry.
ReplyDeleteIn the brief moment it took me to read the lines above, I traveled to the other side of the globe and back, in a second transported back to a world of intense beauty and pain, of stark contrasts and seamless coexistence. A world that still whispers through my dreams in traces of sounds and colors, of faces still loved and bonds never broken.