Moon Eclipse - memories from the Middle East

There are nights when the black velvet sky
observes the earth with its one great eye.
Bright light of the full moon captures even
the sand grains trapped in the motionless atmosphere.
An old beggar rushes down the street to the mosque
where he could find shelter from the chill of desert night.
Heavy air pulsates with the cicadas’ songs
and hypnotizes with the nauseating jasmine smell.
The insects seem to be swimming in the flower
eau de toilette that evaporated and now captivates the throats.
The thick jasmine-scented air fills my head
and I am one of the mosquitoes buzzing around my ears.
Suddenly the solid air absorbs all sounds like vacuum,
the moon light fades as something bits the round
moon face away, bit by bit, and innumerable choirs of prayers
burst out into the humid atmosphere.
The celestial sound overwhelms and rarefies the air
and as the moon slowly disappears, the dark of the night
thickens – soon only the stars twinkle accompanying
the monotonous rhythm of the recitation.
I sit still, enslaved by the magical melody
played by numbers and numbers of human vocal chords.
Every muscle, every cell in my fragile organism
seems to be living the moment, absorbing this music
as if the second it stopped was to be the End.
The time passes on unnoticed – as always in the Middle East.