Cover photo: Brian Michael Barbeito.

Coffees by red chairs and blue tables, tall evergreens and yellow butterflies, a St. Christopher medallion and an owl never seen — a summer day and the quiet that follows it.

Prose and photograph by Brian Michael Barbeito

So, what was the day all about? We had our health and one another. A vehicle also, and went to see our people in another place, slightly north of the city but growing yet also still with big yards, green sanctuaries. I got everyone some coffees, and we sat by red chairs and blue tables tiled with designed whimsical colours. Talked. Observed. Enjoyed the atmosphere.

The evergreens just there were immensely tall and some large yellow butterflies kept going back and forth below. I liked it when the summer wind blew the trees back and forth somewhat. Calm. Peaceful. Serene. That’s a music you can’t really duplicate. You know, yellow and red and other flowers were growing from hanging baskets and in wooden boxes soulful, whist some bees worked hard amidst the purple flowers and didn’t bother anyone whatsoever. All lived in peace then.

Afterwards we even stopped to see other friends after travelling through the main street. We went for a walk. Held hands. The beloved had bought me a St. Christopher medallion on a chain. It was perfect. Made our way back home. In the night they said it was going to become cooler, and it did. By coloured lights in the summer’s nocturne. Yes. And soft yellow bulbs also. Often there in the days I’d hear an owl hooting. Always a mystery as I never actually saw it. I got used to it. Accepted the mystery. Besides, the modern world lacked mystery, didn’t it? Love. Romance. Dreams. Prayers. Origin stories. Myths. Fairy tales. Legends. Spirituality. Mystical zeitgeist. Psychic nuance and emotional depth. What about poems penned in notebooks? By the inspired heart-open and the downtrodden heartbroken both.

We opened the windows. The night was feeling nice. How extra quiet the next dawn was, the world on break, overcast and sometimes rainy and so much cooler. Good sleeping weather as the old saying goes. I could feel the silence and the silence was great and loud in its own paradoxical manner.

About the author

Brian Michael Barbeito is a Canadian poet and photographer residing in the Southern Ontario area.

Brian