Skip to main content

On Beauty and Falling Leaves

She got in the cab. A large gray bearded driver asked for the destination. She gave him the address. A small University town. There was no need for detailed directions. They started the ride. The whole way he complained. About the traffic: “Should have taken the other way! Too many students in this area!” “Oh, yeah!” she laughed to herself. “So much traffic it might take us five extra minutes!”  "What is she doing? Some people should not be allowed to drive! Get out of the way, lady!”

She looked through the window.  Shades of yellow, orange, ocher, red. It was just as if some magical creature had come into the night and painted all the trees in the most beautiful and unexpected hues. From where she came from, there was no Fall. At least, not like this. Leaves would dry up and fall from the trees occasionaly. Each species at their own time, throughout the year. They would also bloom at their own discretion, not all at once. There was no collective spectacle. The driver continued groaning. She tried to call his attention to the beauty outside the window. He pretended not to hear her. “How can someone not see this? How can a person choose such grumpiness over  beauty?”

She refused to listen to him anymore, his voice began to sound like a distant mumble while she lost herself in the colors of the trees, listening only to the sound of the tires crushing the leaves that had already fallen on the road. She paid close attention to each single leaf and all of them together at once. In a few weeks all of these would probably be gone. She had no idea when she’d be seeing such a scenary again in her life.

The cab parked in the driveway. She payed the man, even tipped him. He gave her his phone number in a piece of paper. "Call me, if you need a ride again." She took the piece of paper and wished him a good evening. She walked towards her front door, large decided steps. She held her head up high, the coolness of the wind on her face. While walking, she felt her hand turning the piece of paper into a very tiny ball. Inside, she laid her books on the kitchen counter, opened the fridge, picked up a bottle of wine, a glass from the cabinet and, Let her body slowly sink in the rented armchair strategically positioned by the window.

Photo credits: Bruno Sandes - 2013

Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 15, 2014 at 9:46 AM

    Interesting point of view piece.

    Good luck with the blog.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I upset people (This may be the first of a series)

I feel I upset many people. Maybe it is something I do, but the feeling I get is that what upsets them is the way I live, the choices I make. People get upset with me when they hear I don't believe in God. If I tell them that I once did, but have lost my faith after I lost my first child, a premature baby, they fail to grasp the complexity of it. They look at me with irritating condescendent pityful eyes and they think I can be "fixed." To be fair, maybe I fail to help them understand that after what happened to me, God as I came to know it and most people of Christian beliefs do, is of no use to me.  God proved himself either nonexistent or useless to me when my first born died and when I almost followed him due to Eclampsia and Hellp Syndrome (Go ahead and google it! Unless you are doctor or had someone in the family who had this, you will never know it.) He did not save my baby and he did not spare me the excruciating suffering I had to endure. And if you think I...
4 comments
Read more

The child that did not stay

I remember expecting a child that never came, a child I never held in my arms. I remember expecting a child who would have his father's hair, his kind eyes.  He would be curious of the world and I would follow closely all the things he would see with enchanted eyes. Everything would be new for his new eyes. Those were the words of a song about someone else's child, a song I used to listen to while waiting for this child. I remember dreaming of his future, of his smiles. I remember my hopes for him. He did not want me, this child. He did not stay.  He was not interested in the playground in front of the building we live. He was not interested in having my hand holding his while he walked his first steps. He did not care about the flowers, leaves, little dry sticks that fall from the trees in our neighbourhood. He did not want to listen to the slightly out of tune lullabies I was going to sing or the stories I would read at bedtime. He did not even care for the milk, all th...
1 comment
Read more

No espelho

  Olhei hoje para o espelho e me vi mais serena, me enxerguei com mais leveza. Não que esteja de fato mais leve, eu acho. Ou será que estou? Tenho ainda infinitas incertezas e dúvidas aos milhares, mas a imagem que me olhou de volta do espelho, não me olha com tristeza, dor pânico.     A imagem que vejo nesse espelho é de     calma, no olhar certa paz, talvez de se entender humana, imperfeita e aceitar essa condição.     Aqui, deste lado que estou, me observando no espelho, sinto ainda o coração encolher como se uma mão o quisesse esmagar. Encolhe-se para sobreviver e expande-se em seguida. Ao encolher-se, a respiração dá uma pausa e uma bolha de cristal sobe em refluxo, pausando ali no meio da goela. Assim que pode, o coração retorna a seu pulsar, seu ir e vir. Permanecem ali as dúvidas, as exigências, as demandas, mas também os desejos de só ser, irresponsavelmente ser e atender a cada quimera. Porque a vida é curta! A vida é sopro!    E o ...
Post a Comment
Read more