Sunrise
Devin N Morris 2014

Salvation approached from the path at our rear in the form of an orange Land Rover. We thought to walk from the fazenda to the mountaintop where the coffee beans grow. I look to the sky and see a gradient of dull gray blue cascading through a lemon yellow glow and ending on pungent tangerine, I fear I’ll miss it’s arrival. I thanked those that creepep from behind and enter the back door to take my seat on unstable chairs. Léo opted to continue to walk eventually being joined by those who were more burdened by rest. Our banana boat continues its rocky ascension.

Said cloud lurks in an ominous fashion, slowly drifting from the south coming east into the frame of the coming sun’s glow. I turn to rest my eyes upon the hills that grow from hills, from greens, then from woods as well. Banana trees and coffee fields are where I sit awaiting the marvel that is a Brazilian sunrise uninterrupted. Nature and creature finds itself alive at this moment. Daily they wake at the moment. We are high up. The coffee beans grow here atop the mountain, Antonio’s mountain. This was Antonio’s idea really, he telling us to venture to the mountaintop to experience sunrises and sets. In the valley a rooster crows. The clouds were as large as the mountains. A mountain themselves, eroding in chunks in preparation for day break. Look there! Lèo, Flora & Gwas approach from the trail below.

The rooster goes without rest in its call to assure the wild that they have indeed lived another day. Our group sits in anticipation, quietly as if we were in a theater. Léo reads an excerpt of Walt Whitman’s poem "Song of the Open road,".

... (Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go,
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)...

The earth never tires,
The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first, Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first,
Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop’d,
I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell

... Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have tried it well—be not detain’d!

Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the shelf unopen’d!
Let the tools remain in the workshop! let the money remain unearn’d!
Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the teacher!
Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer plead in the court, and the judge expound the law.

Camerado, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?

It was then I cried, having no doubt that God exists. There are 8 of us in total Sophia, Gwas, Flora, Dacio, Leo, Élo,Tay, Paloma and myself. From behind a cloud the sun sheepishly peers out as if it never left last night. Magnificent. Standing above red earth seeded with coffee bean I thank God for this beauty, this funny vision the sunrise is.

Upon the hill I dig a hole and deposit some dead coffee beans. I also fill it with the pain of my beginning, the strife of my family, friends, foes and words I cannot utter so I leave them here to rid self of. Traveling to Brazil is a harvest and funeral. I say a prayer because no one deserves pain. “Thank you,” I leave my prayers in the earth. We snack on coffee bean from the trees. It grows on thin trumpet branches. The ones I had were pomegranate red but full of plumpness and light and sweetness, a flavor akin to fresh kale mixed with raisin the skin's texture resembles the former. Beneath the skin lays two Beans that are semi hard white and almost translucent.

Heading out we went down through the bean fields. Such a magical sight, banana trees growing  above short coffee trees. Two of us ride on the rooftop. First Gwas & Helo, followed by Gwas and Leo. Their silhouettes tattoo the clay and root filled walls as we descend through the valley. This path never looked so beautiful and I didn’t want to miss seeing it ever again. Many days I would sleep as we past through this road on the

way to the city in search of wifi. The white dog runs barking alongside the car as we pass, the one of two that always barks and pretends to chase me as I walk to my studio. I notice its elegant bark and the finesse of its neck as its head slightly snaps back and forth in deliverance.