Trafika Europe 11 - Swiss Delights

Tamangur + 11 Poems

2 The village is a place full of shadows nestled deep in the mountains. Deeper still, the river, full and glistening, snarls its way to the border. There is a church on a hill near the edge of the forest, a schoolhouse, a few shops and restaurants, and the village square. On the square is a long bench. If the bench is empty, the child sits and wonders what stories the bench has heard. The seat might still be warm, which means someone was just sitting there and had time to tell the bench lies. That’s why it’s called the bench of lies. The child brushes her finger over the grooves and cracks in the wood. A dog or a goat might walk by on the main street, which shimmers and stinks of tar at this time of day. No one knows why the goat with no bell is always alone. Did it get lost in the narrow streets? It always seems to be looking for something. Sometimes the goat’s pointless searching makes the child sad. She cannot keep the worries of others at a distance. Across the river, a side valley disappears between the mountains.

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