Joy

Yesterday was a warm early summer day--today an icy wind has returned--but yesterday all the richness of crisscrossing of lives. Here we are, with gratitude to the fisherman who left his much watched pole to give us this gift. La Professoressa and two of her post graduate students from the University of Melbourne School of Law, Oishik and Debolina--they also far from home, Kolkata, the capital of East Bengal, India-- and the gray- headed one. We spent the day by the bay, talking, talking, our histories bouncing off each other, the desire to be in each other's presence despite shyness and difference of age, lands of origin, to hear the thoughts of others trying to make sense of the complexities of gender, race, desire while we watched the ancient rituals of near naked bodies lying helter skelter on the sand, dogs scampering, children squealing with delight as the gentle but cold waters of the bay nipped their toes, the four of us,our eyes looking out, our own bodies touching, smiles of welcome.