First Bat
Sri
Lanka – 1985
A short flight from Madras
across the Bay of Bengal
to Colombo
then a train to Kandy, in Sri Lanka
climbing skyward through lush jungle
monkeys watch our passing with disinterest.
Hillside not far out of town
a white frame guest house
two floors, four rooms
balcony looks out onto the seeming endlessness below
Mahawa River running through it
palm treed hills of emerald green
and undergrowth.
As evening falls
a single bat appears
to flutter against darkening sky
still light enough to watch it’s path
down river
others follow
more and more
an arithmetical expression into thousands
long black scarf of flight
into the coming dark.
A distant hermit monk chants day’s end mantra
somewhere far below
some others follow
as if in response, but not
their soundings echo timeless beauty
as the moon appears.
How long has this been going on.
Bruce
Louis Dodson
June
2016
No comments:
Post a Comment