He stood there everyday with the colourful cloth spread on the ground. People called him "tinker" I called him "beautiful." I never got tired of watching him putting his beautiful items one by one on the beautiful cloth. The story was always the same: I'd walk to him and point at one of his items, "how much?" He'd look at me with his big beautiful eyes and say, "it's not for sale." Enviously I'd look at the items: little suns, little moons, little stars, and little horses. They were all beautiful and they were all made out of thin colourful paper. There were "real" earrings, bracelets, and necklaces too but, I never looked at them, not really. One day I asked him angrily, "why do you display your art when you're not selling it?" "It's just a reminder", he said. "A reminder of what?" I asked. He smiled and I saw the ocean in his eyes. I was falling in love with him and he didn't know it. One day he didn't spread the colourful cloth "come to the ocean with me", he said. I followed him as if under a spell. The ocean looked like his eyes: deep, mysterious, and full of life. He opened his cloth and the wind blew away the paper suns, moons, stars, and horses. I looked at him with tears in my eyes. "my dreams will never die", he said "and neither will yours", he added. And then he smiled his beautiful smile. I reached out and held him. My lost home was in his arms, a gypsy traveler. Knowing that he wouldn't understand, in my native tongue I whispered, "I love you." We walked back to the city. We bought hot tea. Thinking that I wouldn't understand, In his native tongue he sang me a goodbye song. Before I left he looked into my eyes I saw the ocean in his eyes. With tears in his eyes he said, "I love you too". His words drifted away like thin paper stars They were my dreams and my dreams would never die.
Hydeh Aubon (1/11/04)
