:42:01
I picked up the whole shot again,
adding the somewhat hazy end,
:42:04
the frame trembling under the force of the wind
beating us down on the cliff:
:42:08
everything I had cut in order to tidy up, and that said
better than all the rest what I saw in that moment,
:42:13
why I held it at arms length, at zooms length,
until its last twenty-fourth of a second.
:42:21
The city of Heimaey spread out below us.
:42:23
And when five years later my friend Haroun Tazieff sent me the film
he had just shot in the same place
:42:27
I lacked only the name to learn that
nature performs its own dondo-yaki;
:42:33
the island's volcano had awakened.
:42:36
I looked at those pictures, and it was as
if the entire year '65 had just been covered with ashes.
:43:00
So, it sufficed to wait and the planet itself
staged the working of time.
:43:05
I saw what had been my window again.
:43:07
I saw emerge familiar roofs and balconies,
:43:11
the landmarks of the walks I took through town every day,
down to the cliff where I had met the children.
:43:17
The cat with white socks that Haroun had been considerate
enough to film for me naturally found its place.
:43:24
And I thought, of all the prayers to time that had studded this trip
the kindest was the one spoken by the woman of Gotokuji,
:43:31
who said simply to her cat Tora,
"Cat, wherever you are, peace be with you."