Part One: Hello Stranger

The Dark Silhouette

Night, the beloved.  Night, when words fade and things come alive.  When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again.  When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree.  

~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I used to visit a library near my school before going to my after school choir meetings. One day I was startled by a very distinct image. A silhouette, dark against the beaming rays of the afternoon sun. Gleaming white eyes came from a man leaning against a door, hidden between two stores. Eyes that surveyed the rush of public school children screaming and laughing with their friends. As I walked closer to him, I could see his skin was the blackest of black. His tall, lean figure shadowed over what was a young girl around the age of six or seven, who’s moist white eyes sparkled against her dark skin.

library

It was as if he was protecting her. A younger sister perhaps? Just someone in his care? Midnight. Silence. The beauty of contrast. Those thoughts swirled in my mind all years ago. Their silence against the roaring of the school children. The little girl’s delicate form under the towering protective position of the man before her. Both of them, with pearl-like eyes gleaming against the dark of their skin, watching the afternoon pass by them. I tried not to stare as I walked past the pair. The image was burned into my mind forever. Two figures of night in the afternoon.

black father daughter

~Sophia Calderone

Share

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.