Two Shrouds p. 1 (of 2)

Recently, there was a lunar eclipse, total,
the first to coincide with the
solstice
since 1638, second in the
Common Era.
Like solar, I expected,
a black-out.
Instead, like a
ragged, dust-colored shroud,
a wispy
cloud, was being dragged across
the
moon’s very white, almost-round face.
…

I watched it start to sail across
for a minute, then back to bed.
Later, my wife said the shroud took
hours to dissipate, sail off into space.
In Addis Ababa these days, abundant greenery.
Generations ago, the dry plain was seeded
with eucalyptus trees, a species of colonization
for the good of the Ethiopian people.
Since then, plants, both indigenes and imports,
have flourished, creating bright traceries of color:
green, yes, but purple, too, and more:
…
 
yellow, red, lovely, bougainvillea, jacaronda, not to
mention
Croton Macrostachys (Besana).* Come to think
of it,
some may antedate the eucalyptus.
Prevailing, however, is
dust: roads, people, too.
Dry-earth dust, together
with the fumes
from ancient vehicles --cars, trucks,
buses-- black
smoke, white, several varieties of noisome
exhaust
…