Leaving For Campus

i want to freeze this moment to paste all this feelings into one moment in time these smells theses thoughts these sounds around me the tuk tuk i am in reaches town and from the mosque nearby the mwadhini calls out loud "Allah Akbar" the faithfuls; men in stark white robes and women in shimmering black buibuis hurry on to the dome roofed mosque for their evening swala the tuk tuk comes to a halt infront of the booking office of the bus i shall travel with there are many other travelers like i i alight the tuk tuk pay the driver and tell him asante after he carries my suitcases to the place i shall sit to wait for the bus he drives off rickety and noisy like all tuk tuks are and i think nostalgically that that's the last tuk tuk ride i shall have in a long long time to come i doubt if they have them in Nairobi at least not as many as here, in Kilifi neither is the air as warm as this one i know Nairobi will be cold and i know i shall miss this humid air so warm like a lover's breath on the neck and so teasing with scents of this and that all of them elusive one time there is a tinge of the murky salty sea scent the next there hangs in the air a sweet scent of feminine Arabic perfume and then later that of frying garlic; somebody's cooking pilau somewhere i feel hungry already i shall have to buy some fries to eat on the way matatus pass by me the conductors asking me if i would like to get on i smile and shake my head i have somewhere else to go they speed past me sighing, i look above the street lights glow lemon yellow they light the town in a golden hue and up above still God's light bulbs light up the clear coastal sky in tiny fluorescent spots like diamonds on a black dinner dress and i wonder is it possible to touch them stars up there? they look so far up high! a bright one stands out like Venus at twilight it winks down at me and makes me smile they may be far but one journey then the next may take us closer and closer to them i have my own stars to touch and my journey tonight is another one to take me closer to them who knows if humans can ever touch stars? only time will tell i guess *asante- swahili word for "thank you" *mwadhini- the person who calls to Muslims at certain intervals to go to pray at the mosque *swala- prayer