when i was in primary school
there was a big wide field, with grass that came up to our knees
full of grasshoppers and crickets that we'd catch and put in plastic bottles
i would lie down on the slope upon the grass
and just look at the sky
it would have a blue so deep and bright it hurt my eyes
in the afternoon heat I would hear the lazy trill of the cicadas on the trees
and the distant, faint sound of the gurkhas playing their bagpipes
just floating over the field and filled me with something..

I went back recently
the field is gone now, nothing but concrete and a rubber running track--red with crisp numbers and hard edges
modern, clean, sterile...soulless
no more grass, no more crickets, and no more music
time has moved on
the world changes
and people change

be good to yourself, /bant/.