I inadvertantly rode my bike past a funeral today on the way to the grocery store. There is a ceremony in the house, the exterior of which is decorated with brightly colored flowered medallions. These decorations, quite colorful and large (about a meter and a half in diameter), are like traffic lights saying STOP! I felt awkward as I watched them bring the procession from inside. Everyone stood so stiffly and quietly, dressed in black and white. The funeral hurse waited by the door, its back styled in the heavy guilding of a funeral shrine. I felt like an imposition on the solemnity so I quickly moved on. As I crossed the river towards the market, I noticed a tall stark crane perched on a rock in the center of the water. It stood perfectlly still (as is its normal manner), and yet a part of me felt like it was frozen in the same scene as the funeral.

Copyright 2000 H. Krebs