Church Bells / Campanas de iglesia en Guayaquil

churchI like the bells!
Not everybody likes them
But I like the bells.

No they don’t play a discernable tune,
They mostly ‘cling’ and ‘clang’,
Sounding early and throughout the day.

Yet against a background of whining car alarms,
The clamor of Taxi horns,
And the guttural grinding of bus gears,

The bells are cheerful music to my ears.

Cerita M. Hewett
August 20, 2010
____________________________

Campanas de iglesia en Guayaquil

Me gusta las campanas!
Todo el mundo no les gustan,
Pero a mi me gustan las campanas.

No, no tocan una melodía discernible,
En su mayoría solo ‘cling’ y ‘clang’,
Sonando temprano y durante todo el día.

Sin embargo contra el fondo de las quejas de las
alarmas de las coches,
El clamor de los pito de taxi,
Y el gutural rechinar de engranajes del bus,

Las campanas son una música alegre para mis oídos.

Cerita M. Hewett
20 de agosto de 2010

Boy on the Bus

       KOLKATA, INDIA - FEBRUARY 08:People on the move come in the colo

         On our way home from church Sunday,
         We caught bulging bus Twelve,
         Laden down with teaching materials
         We stood in the aisle,
         Wobbled side to side,
         Back and forth,
         Hung on to the bar and each other,
         As this dragon careened around corners,
         Bounced in and out of rough places,
         Leaped pot holes,
         Jolted to stops,
         Gobbled up and belched forth people. 

         Suddenly in accented English a voice called,
         “Sit!”
         I looked around as
         A boy about eleven stood,
         Showing his gleaming young white teeth
         In a broad smile,
         He gave me his seat.

         I smiled too,
         Thanked him in my best accented Spanish,
         And gratefully sat. 

         Recipient of a junior angel’s kindness!

 

                                                  Cerita M. Hewett
                                                  May 17, 2009

Gaurdians

               Stray Dogs

                 The dogs in our neighborhood
                 Take very seriously their jobs.
                 Perhaps it is because there seems
                 To be so few of them in Guayaquil.

                  We rarely see them in the daytime,
                  And only hear them as we lie in bed,
                  On nights when our minds are over active,
                  Wishing for the sweet refreshment of sound sleep.
                  Then it seems the chorus begins.

                  Woof, woof!
                  Oooo, oooo!
                  Arf, arf, arf!
                  Rrrrr, rrrr!
                  Owoo, Owoo, Owoo!
                  Close and distant they holler.

                  I wonder,   “Are they talking to each other?
                  Is a rat running across their patio?
                  Perhaps a cat slurks along the top of a nearby wall?
                  Has a well known thief entered the garden?
                  Is some old dog ill?
                  Has there been a death in the community?
                  Did their retirement fund collapse?
                  Or are they debating some compelling political question?” 

                  At last their conversation ceases.
                  Perhaps the danger passes,
                  Possibly their pain or sorrow is soothed,
                  Perchance a truce or concession comes to pass.
                  At last night-quiet peace reigns supreme once more. 

                  We remain awake, alas awake,
                  Quiet, yet awake,
                  Musing over all the possibilities.

                                                                                      Cerita M. Hewett
                                                                                      April 29, 2009
                                                                                      (revised 2014)

Contradictions

Ecuador, Ethnic Latin Woman

                 Ocean, rivers, desert,
                       Verdant mountains, volcanic rock,
                                    Tropical jungle,
                  Whales – millipedes.
                           Humming birds – great parrots,
                  Changing surfaces – changing people.

 

                  Large cities – tiny villages,
                           Supermarkets – open markets,
                                    Stairwell shops – modern malls,
                  Sidewalk cafes – food courts,
                           Street venders – department stores
                  Flower gardens – dirt yards.

 

                  Painted and unpainted homes dot the land
                           Mansions, high-rise apartments,
                                    Cinderblock, adobe, cardboard dwellings and huts,
                  Painted gray and black by the earth,
                           Or by cheerful people
                  Green, pink, orange, or blue.

 

                  Cement highways – dirt streets – narrow pathways,
                           People riding in cars, airplanes, buses,
                                    Trains, vans, pickups,
                  Ships, boats, dugouts,
                           Or on burros and horses,
                  Some walking, walking, walking.

 

                  Agile young soccer players competing on dirt,
                           Cement, or sparse yellow grass surfaces,
                                    And on sandy beaches,
                  Professionals playing in giant
                           Manicured stadiums,
                 Cripples with canes, crutches, wheelchairs.

 

                  People spread across the land
                           Smiling young faces with sparkling white teeth,
                                    Sober, wrinkled, toothless, faces.
                  Crying babies, shouting venders, whispering breezes,
                           Brass bands – classical orchestras,

 

                  Traditions of home learning,
                           Training from the fathers and ancients,
                  Schools of private or public education.

 

                  Men, women, and children working the land,
                  Terraced corn, beans, and potato patches,
                                    Spacious rice paddies – Cane fields,
                  Banana plantations.

 

                  People filling shops and offices,
                           Wearing jeans, suits, or native dress.
                                    Living off the land,
                                             Living off the streets,
                  Clean and dirty.

 

                  Tourists looking on,
                           Old people looking back,
                                    Young people looking forward!

 

                  Ecuador, a land of contradictions,
                           Ecuador, a land in flux,
                                    A place to live, love, and serve.

 

                                                                       Epilogue

 
                  Traveling we experienced something of this land’s
                           Ugliness and beauty,
                                    Sound and silence,
                  Perfume and odor.

 

                  Then we returned to the peace,
                           The studied formal gardens,
                                    The refuge of the temple grounds,
                  Here we found the same peace
                           That the people of this land find as
                                    They come one by one
                                             Family by family,
                   To worship in our Father’s house!

                                                            Cerita M. Hewett
                                                            August 16, 2009
                                                            (revised Oct. 2014)