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VIII.  A visit to the Desert
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 By Rodrigo de Almeida Siqueira (delirium@farofa.ime.usp.br)
 
I'm back from the Desert of Atacama (North of Chile).  It's
really fantastic there and many of the things immediately
inspirate Haiku:
 
Sand, flowery cactus, lakes made of salt, cold wind, mountains
made of salt crystal, abandoned cities, roads of sulphur,
saltpeter and borax fields, ore, green lakes with flamingos and
volcanoes covered with snow (more than 5000m altitude), geysers
of hot water and sulfuric vapor, Inca ruins, spanish ruins, old
mines of saltpetre and abandoned cemeteries of last century,
mountain range, lots of tourists, lunar landscape and martian
scenery, indian villages and modern cities, mummies older than
those of Egypt, archeology, huge beaches with seagulls, high
cliffs, deep valleys of rock, oasis with fruits, sun setting
behind sand mountains, workmanship with copper, sculptures made
by the wind, little tornados, llama and other unusual animals and
many other things impossible to describe in words.
 
 
           Rio seco                    Dry river
       silencio sob a ponte        silence under the bridge
         apenas o vento.              only the wind.
 
 
         Campo amarelo                Yellow field
      entre pedras e areia        between rocks and sand
        uma flor seca.                a dry flower.
 
 
       Noite no deserto              Night in the desert
         muito mais areia          much more sand in the land
            do que estrelas.          than stars in the sky.
 
 
        Reflexo da lua               Reflection of the moon
      nas pedras do chao.         in the little rocks of the ground.
      No ceu, as estrelas.            In the sky, the stars.
 

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