Thursday, June 30, 2011

the rain



It is as though time moves with a different pulse in Nepal. Though I have been gone for a year, if I close my eyes and breath in the burnt air, it could be last summer. The metalsmiths have hammered away millions of tinny taps since then, and younger crows are fed by the lady in the bluish house, but to me, as I sit here, they feel the same. The water’s metallic smell is a strange comfort. The threadbare prayer flags, which flutter like delicate butterfies in blue, white, red, yellow and green fill me with a familiar wonder and warmth.

Earlier, I walked around the stupa in the rain, my red flowered umbrella clashing with the old brick buildings in a most pleasing way. I took shelter in a dark passage next to a souvenir shop, and stared into the unblinking eyes of Buddha, painted on the Stupa’s golden tower. I felt something tidal within me, a pulling in my heart and gut. There are a few strands of white in my much longer hair now, more ink in my skin, and I feel... I feel...



I feel like a stranger and I feel I have come home. I feel unchanged and I feel profoundly changed.
I feel I am raining too.

5 comments:

Jean said...

So beautiful. I hope you have a wonderful stay. I hope I will see Nepal one day.

szaza said...

Thank you so much, Jean!
I hope you do too.

Unknown said...

Have a fabulous trip. Shame you weren't in Doha longer with could have met for coffee & some sketching.

szaza said...

Thank you, Sue.
Oh that would have been great... Sadly I was only in Doha for about 20 minutes!

Mice Aliling said...

I love your words...so poetic and apt for the photos you took. Nepal is one of the places I must go to one day.