the strada bianca ribbons its way to the capella de vitaleta where I plan to go for meditation but I wander on passing through ploughed fields and the young vineyards of the valdorcia to the duomo de pienza for I had read in wikipedia built on the edge & slipping and in tripadvisor loved the church bells
walking down the romanesque isle marbled columns reach to a fluted ceiling
aware of the dual level floor and teetering church I hold my hands in penance
go for coffee at the café next door the owners’ washing overhead fans me while I view the etruscan landscape savour the almond biscuits note the languages of tourists
it is time for the angelus as it is twelve o’clock according to my watch but there was only the swift wing of a hawk diving from the tower where the bells hang motionless against a botticelli sky
it is when I return to green tuscany hills sit in a gathering of pines and cypresses at la poggio bacoca that I sense a breath sighing amidst leaves and hear between the calls of thrush and swallow between the humming of bees and insects not the chimes of bells but my name being called cascading down the valley and up its slopes
I answer here am I not knowing what else to say
juli Jana