Down, down, down sank the sun as I watched her prepare our evening meal over the open fire. I smiled as she tasted for salt and with her ladle, drop some hot soup unto her palm, licking it clean with her tongue. She wouldn't add salt again, Grandma always got it right the first time. As I sat by the fireside, scaring away chickens from feeding off our precious food, I watched Grandma put down the huge pot of soup from the fire, dinner was ready! I thought of....once we've had dinner... I looked across at the big Mango tree... I looked forward to when the actual fun would begin, eager to see the new trick that the wise tortoise had up its sleeve.
I grew up in a small village in Africa, with the smell of fresh earth and the sight of dewdrops clinging to the leaves. I am drenched in the scents and colours of Africa but it is during the Moonlit nights that I feel a special magic in the air.
We lived without electricity back then, and without the Moonlight, it would be completely dark. As the full Moon bathed the village in its shiny silvery light, I would sit at my grandmother’s feet, listening to her folktales, which had been passed from generation to generation. She told me many stories in which the Moon was the wife of the Sun. She's always depicted as this motherly figure whom one can share their problems with.
Last night, I was looking at the magical Moon from my balcony, I remembered those stories. Though so many things have changed over the years, the Moon always looks the same as the one I made my confidant and told my deepest secrets all those times. The few trees around seemed to whisper quietly, the night creatures sang their songs from far away, and the stars twinkled with less intensity because the City lights overshadowed them.
On this Moonlit night, I listen to the crickets chirp in the background, I named the twinkling stars as I tried to count them, one after the other, the Moon's luminescence guiding my eyes, each one representing a story, a memory, a life lived long ago.
I whispered her name quietly,
"You will always be the light guiding my paths."
I touched my cheek and felt the hot tears;
"Wherever you go, never forget the roots that ground you". I heard her voice whisper across the realms, and I felt strongly this deep connection to the past.
I really love staring at the moon. The way it shines in the darkest of nights. It gives me Serenity. The moon reminds me of you every time I...
So here's introducing LUMINA, a name dedicated to someone who mattered so much to me and taught me how to watch the Moon and appreciate its beauty, to know that she's always there even when I can't see her. unfortunately I will never see her again in this lifetime. What a woman.... my Grandma!
Thank you Silver Bloggers for accepting me as one of your own. 😊
I am 