The house is stifling.
Outside
A cool breeze blowing
The neighbors music
Endless
One song
Makes you want to dance
The next one
Soothing as a lullaby
And so you tote a quilt
Up the steep ladder
The music is below you now
Just stars above
The half moon brighter
Than the few scattered bulbs
Lighting up the neighborhood
You and your best friend
Two creaky beach chairs
In the middle of a city
Yet alone for a bit
The music stops.
The city sleeps.
And you too
Sleep fitfully
Until 1 o'clock
The once friendly wind
Now seems to torment
And you half stumble
Down the ladder again
To bed.
Your last thought
Is how a country girl
In the middle a city
Has found a way to go
Camping.
It's incredibly hot and dry in Port au Prince right now. The clouds roll in each evening, with threatening thunder, then leave with only a few tantalizing sprinkles, or maybe nothing at all. It was the heat that drove us to the roof to sleep last night... bringing back so many memories of orphanage days. It got too cold though, and we didn't take up a real mattress, so maybe tonight we'll haul the spare bed out to the porch and see how that works.
Last night our neighborhood was feeling pretty happy. We went to see our minister who is in the hospital with heart problems after church. Zèzè dropped me off with our friend to walk home afterward, and we went had to make our way through a teeming mass of people, some already half drunk, shaking arms and "dadas" (behinds) to some fairly loud tunes. July is the season of graduations, all of them held on Sundays. We had one in the family too yesterday, Zèzè's younger sister. So we cooked up a big meal of smelly yellow diri chela, the Haitian party rice, a huge pasta salad, fried chicken, pizza, fried plantain "bowls" filled with BBQ meat, and cake. Well actually his mom and cousin did the hard parts and I just helped. There was probably 40 people in and out of the house total, so I was tired. But cooking up a bunch of fancy Haitian food is an opportunity I won't pass up.
This is going to be a busy week. Zeze's birthday is Saturday, along with his first cousins wedding, and probably a funeral. We feel so bad for this lady's family. She died at home of a heart attack, maybe could have been saved with proper medical care... Her doctor seemed to have some strange ideas. Her son is living in Brazil but just came back and married a Haitian girl a few weeks ago, and is of course waiting on paperwork with no job right now. Sometimes I think paying for the funeral causes these people just as much grief and stress as the death itself. In any case it's a whole lot harder than it should be. The lady's husband is also in very poor health so we're praying he can have strength to handle this.
And the country is continues with no government, and hardly any gas. Food prices have gone up... but what's new... "n'ap lite" - we're fighting!
Have a happy week everyone!