The Rainbow Kites

Kite reels in India

Evening at the beach,
six of us sing with delight, pouring ourselves into the surf,
Aphrodite’s lacy foam blessing us.
Two turn back to home, because today, just this day,
this Sunday June evening full of light,
is the perfect day for wind.
Two bright rainbow kites, one short, one long,
unfurl into the sky as if born there.
Higher and higher, released and released
by loving hands on the strings,
the brilliant tails whip and flutter,
exulting in freedom, at home in Oya’s winds.
We loll in the unceasing surf,
washed inland and out in the undertow’s slow rhythm,
leaning on one elbow, head tilted to the sky,
as the evening sun and the two kites
vie for our attention.
I remember my son, whose kite this once was,
and there he is, visiting these beloved women,
laughing, untethered by string.
For that moment, we connect, the kite and the spirit,
the wind and the women lolling in the surf.
The rainbow kite snaps its tail and shouts with joy
for this windy day,
as unsuspecting families pass by hand in hand,
walking together on the warm sandy Earth.

Annelinde Metzner
June 9, 2014

Guatemalan kite

Chinese kite

Rainbow kite