In Lagada, la vita

In Lagada, la vita


Yanni takes her to check out the Citroen, a time to practice patience, a way of life for Greeks: but Zimbabwe born, she fidgets in her seat. She looks out, sees the flowers blooming mauve and red, yellow, white. Looking up, it's obvious the clouds are somewhere bound. She jots down these images she's found.

So, what to do but write a verse or two? Time is free; it's cars that cost.

The moment of the poppy's bloom is therefore never lost, recorded as the little dog and wildflowers toss their heads. She dreams instead of fussing.

This view of Spring brings to mind the green of native land, as time bends to touch itself, brings forth the sap from wounds not healed. From thistles that prick these scars she picks at scabs.

When the old man lights his brown cigar, the tendrils make their way to her. The white dog shakes its jewelled collar. Red poppies grasp the brilliant sunshine, let it go. Time is spent not wasted here. Here, where it stretches like a Dali clock, where one Yanni is not quite like another, where lepta become drachma become euros and the car is paid for.

She ponders: how many lepta would it have cost her once to water her donkey, grab some feta, and wander home? How many clouds would have passed above her while she rode? How many wildflowers would she have picked and gathered along the path to home, to the Village of the Bees, Melissohori?

Lost in thoughts in Lagada, Yanni drives her past the white and yellow weeds that sprinkle the rolled out carpets of green where mauve thistles thrive, caress the silky grass, bring back the past. The present stretches across blue sky to reach the grasslands of her Africa. Above the white clouds of Lagada, she has found herself.

© Kåre Enga 2006

catalogue number: [163.111]
12 mai 2006

Zimbabwe is the present abode (2012) of our dear zwisis. In 2006 she was in Greece, then in Turkey. She's been home now a couple of years and is blogging again: "Invalid Item" 

Sarah wrote in her old blog in entry: "Invalid Entry"  about sitting in Lagada and seeing this list of things:

green field; red poppies; yellow and white flowers of weeds; blue skies; white clouds; rolling fields; silky grass; bright sunshine; little white dog with a jewelled collar; man smoking cigar.

To see some pictures of the area check out her entry: "Invalid Entry"