Relight my fire

I drove past a bonfire during the week. It was late at night and I was dazzled by what I saw. A dozen teenagers sat around a fire in a field in the old quarters of Strovolos and absorbed the heat. I’m sure there was much more to be absorbed too.

I felt uplifted because this phenomenon is a scarce one nowadays and it has nothing to do with Easter – it’s way too early for that. It brought a warm feeling to me too which I carried all the way home.

Beyond their sense of warmth, I contemplated their freedom of being, that ‘opposition’ to hanging out in the centre of town on the cold marble of Phaneromeni Square. It surprised me to see them so laid-back with it all; they didn’t seem to be worried about what they were doing. I wondered what their reaction would have been had I stopped to join them.

But the fire also brought a visual impression of their surroundings that empahsised the beauty of the city I live in.

It was like the yellowish-red colour of the fire imposed on the stone houses around it shed a new light on the street I pass through on so many occasions during the week.

It’s made an imprint in my mind which I hope will stay with me for a while. For it reminds me that if you just allow yourself to see things from a different ‘light’ just for a moment, you may be surprised to notice that there’s so much more that meets the eye and that light itself is a drive for everyone.

On what was the last traffic light before turning off the main street, the green light had stopped working. I was confused, I didn’t know whether to proceed or not. There, I contemplated that artificial light is just a means to go about your business. And that the light I was more concerned about was the one I had left behind in Strovolos.

And I made it home, no worries.