* * *

From a distance the sound of cheering welcome dancing revel
--clouds of color rise into the blank white sky.
Closer: pink smoking pillars of powder fill lungs nostrils drumbeats.
thrown green yellow red royal purple spattered smeared smiling faces hands in the air pulsing in the dust pushed up against each other.
From above they join, dropping purple rain silhouetted against the setting sun.
creamwhite spires: fluted bases collecting orange magenta maroon in every nook and crevice. crowd chants foreign phrases at the top of their lungs joyous. friends found and lost in a sea of bodies jumping moving feeling: together.
Thousand handfuls of color thrown open wide: welcome spring.