Agra in Northern India 2

Children dash through Yamuna River shallows

beside the Taj Mahal, young legs more like spider appendages skipping through splashes

in the morning of their childhood, away from grownup tales of “moshka” in the Ganges, a spiritual liberation where parents practice  Hindu and Buddhist culture. 

These children are vaguely aware of tourists who arrive in blurry shapes to hear drums and tambourines celebrate the cremation of loved ones in pyres of banyan wood

but one day, they too will be interested in learning about a bull lying in the middle of a pashmina shop, or visit the village of Khajuraho where Kama Sutra temples abound, then drive between fields of mustard seed plants on their way to Orchha.

Much later, these same children who once splashed in the Yamuna River will struggle and barter goods in the crowded streets of Delhi, as they remember summer days from their childhood of innocence.