A Long Summer Day in Blue and Azure

At some point I realized that this terrace with the Gargantua fig tree, the feast table where, to our protesting groans, people carried in and set down all sorts of bowls and plates—this calm, unflappable Basilisa who gives names to the food, like God gives names to plants and animals—this whole long summer day in blue and azure is what I will be remembering when Krit slips back into memory into some eternal radiance.

Maybe I even got a little “swayed,” because I wanted to keep repeating those dancing names, and I, already overflowing with food, for some reason reaching out for yet another rib, exclaiming:

– Devourers! Ogoraks! Maridaks! Brothers Marmataks!

Dina Rubina