The unbearable lightness of the Ouro Preto sky
Direita street, Ouro Preto city, BR (photo by Sonia Fraga)
It's barely past 4 pm, but the moon is already sneaking up on an endless blue sky.Embarrassed and curious, she reveals only a small part of her round, clear face, while stealthily spying on the city of Ouro Preto and its people.I'm sitting on the roof of my house, located in the upper part of the city, where I lazily watch another Sunday go by.It makes a nice little heat, just right.The sun, very pale and low, leaves elongated shadows, which advance over the slopes of the hills.On the roofs of neighboring houses, television antennas alternate with improvised clotheslines, erected in the endless fight against the week's bad weather.On the smooth stone slopes, sometimes men pass with their ears glued to the radio, sometimes groups of children, followed by their mutts and their kites.The breeze is not enough to keep kites in the air;I've seen more than one of them fall and get tangled in branches.The churches, embedded in the highest points of the city, keep their faithful attentive.In the sky, four black birds fly ominously, circling around something only they can see... or sense.From the depths of my chest, an anguish is born that all the beauty of the moment cannot assuage.