Suffocating smoke
Smothers glimmer and glee
Even the sun subdued
To wan gloom
Long before it sets

Still

I know colour lingers beneath
Recall its effervescence
Manifest the latent joy
Until that rises above the horizon
Of my heart

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About the photograph:

Taken during travels, 2017

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A reading from the blog post:
Manifest Colour: https://pixtowords.com/2024/03/01/manifest-colour/
From my blog Pix to Words: https://pixtowords.com/

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In 2017 I spent several weeks in northern India, visiting New Delhi, Agra (the Taj Mahal and Red Fort are there), and Varanasi (Hinduism's holiest city). The atmosphere all across the north was thick with seasonal agricultural smoke as the freshly harvested fields were set on fire in preparation for planting the next crop. By the third week, my cough had become chronic. A deep breath would start a coughing fit.

Delhi's air quality regularly clocks in as the most unhealthy on the entire planet. But Agra and Varanasi seemed not much better. I left Varanasi earlier than I would have liked. It's such a spectacularly unusual and deeply affecting place. But the air was just getting worse, becoming so bad the morning of my departure the flight was delayed for a few hours due to lack of visibility.

Rishikesh, at the base of Himalayan foothills, was a considerable improvement. But even there the smoke would, from time-to-time, creep into the valley, as it did the evening I took this photograph.