India !

Evening

The sun has set and darkness - is it really descending, settling on the earth the way poets and songwriters tell us? On this hot evening it seems more like a vapour rising from the baking earth, making its escape from gravity as soon as the sun is no longer watching...

Shapes are still discernible, and a bit of colour. The little boy - I can't make out his features, but going by size he's maybe three years old - is wearing a red shirt and nothing else. The girl beside him is maybe two years older, probably his sister. They are sitting on a straw mat in front of the nearest hut outside my garden. Voices from the little colony of migrant workers come filtering through the wire fence, punctuating the evening silence. Suddenly the boy begins to laugh, a clear gurgling laugh that keeps tripping over itself. The girl joins in, but her laughter is more restrained. After all, she is the elder one.

Easter moon -
smoke rises
from the cooking fire

Johannes
2009-04-17