My Kind of Night


The streets were almost empty,
Nary a person walking
An occasional vehicle

The slight breeze,
So cool
So gentle
If only to soothe
A fluttering heart

The street lamps cast their magic
Illuminating everything
The drizzle fell
A little misty
Dreamy

In the distance
A dog barked
From a household
The nightly dramas

in the monastery
the raindrops fell on the leaves
like drums that cast the spell
that lull the trees to dance
in this slow hynoptic trance

the sound of the raindrops on the trees
the smell of the rain
the rustling leaves
the earth

all so quiet
the air swells with tranquility

the sound of my reflection
my kind of night
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My kind of night

It was drizzling after I had dinner at my favourite Chinese noodle store.
After buying some groceries,
i walked on the almost empty streets on the way home.

My i-pod was playing ‘Reflection for the night’ playlist,
With slow to mid tempo acoustic songs slow, mainly guitar, piano and violin.

Bought some groceries for the potluck lunch I promised my students I would attend.
After all, I was ‘hijacked’ by other students who brought me out for lunch during the previous potluck session.

The drizzle became slightly bigger.

Walked past That Dam, a stupa, pagoda like structure.
It was dark and there were no lights.
The occasional car or motor bike illuminated the surrounding
Some dogs in the house barked
They used to startle me a lot, during my initial weeks.

As I walked along the main street in Vientiane,
It was so quiet
And the light from the streetlamps
I always find something so alluring about the yellow orange lights

Coupled with the drizzle
Its almost as if there is this dreamlike quality

Then walked across my favourite route, across the monastery near my apartment.
Its so peaceful and serene.
The pitter patter of the raindrops on the leaves
The smell of the rotting leaves
The smell of the earth
The soothing breeze

I felt so at one
I felt as if
There was just the present
No future
No past
Just.
Now.

My kind of night