Nostalgia
It’s a night for nostalgia he said. I felt I was missing something, some echo of nights we must have shared in separate alleyways, far off home
rain drew him back to, or clouds, or the particular light behind rain. I was nostalgic for words, last words of a poem I would read on the train.
There was a power cut today. I lit three candles, ate lamb and read
by candlelight. The beauty of it was too lonely so I went to bed.
It rained then. In the daylight dark. I lay there till I heard a click
and voices. When the lights came back
it was like a conjuring trick –
there they were, the animated creatures of my life I had thought inanimate
objects. And I was the one conjured out of their dream of a dark planet.
from The Chine © 2002
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