As the sudden dusk mellows stone distances,
crowds shuffle down, find spaces to regroup
below the citadel on this poised thoroughfare.
We’ve been walking all afternoon
through suburbs and past the blue house
where that war artist lived – in the heat
our son complains, is demanding a drink.
The crowds are a memory from this time last year,
how they gathered into this space,
and if I listen, I’m sure to hear them again –
those exultant whispers, that ripple
at the furthest edge of history that we’ve reached.
6 September is a national holiday in Bulgaria and marks the anniversary of the unification of the northern and southern parts of the country in 1885.
