Da Nang: Everywhere

You will always be a part of my favourite sunsets here.

The way you are in watercolour bridges and in sun-dappled walks in the shade. On hillsides, feet in the river; over rock and under tree, by deserted beach and secret waterfall.

In birdsong, in flashes of wildlife; in red-shanked doucs peering curiously from the branches; in sea birds and butterflies wheeling overhead.

You are in the peace of wild things* and wild places.

In rain-soaked days and cold starlit skies; in stormy grey mornings and radiant afternoons; in summer dusk and moonrise on the shore.

You are here, in the dead of night and in the restless hours before the dawn.

You are in the easy silence of motorbike rides down mountain roads, and in the pandemonium of the streets.

You are in the wisps of laughter drifting faintly in the chill of a champagne-fueled midnight walk at Christmas.

You are in the front seat of every rollercoaster, and on every Ferris wheel and in every funfair plush toy.

You are among the bookshelves, in all the stories that floated between us; you are there, in songs haphazardly sung at traffic stops, flickering in the light of a movie screen.

You were with me on the last flights this strange, chaotic year; and you are there, shadow lingering in the dusty forgotten outposts of your old empire.

You are in the tiniest gift at my throat, silver and Burmese ruby. Inked on my skin, the glassy butterfly you taught me to name.

You are nowhere and here and everywhere all at once.

*From Wendell Berry’s The Peace of Wild Things