Durban, South Africa, 2005

The Quietest Day of the Year

Rain in Durban,
The quietest day of the year.
Crates of silver sardines
Stacked onto trucks;
Somber onlookers watch the haul
Like a drowning.

Taxi strike steals
The breath from the whistling city;
Young boy breath wasted huffing glue.
Buses too full for those of us waiting.

Another downpour.
The sidewalks empty.
My cluster of leaves is no longer enough --
Run for the cover of a flower seller and find
One fragrant breath.
Shirt soaked to skin again.
A warm, winter downpour in Durban
On the quietest, the shortest, day of the year.

-- June 21, 2005