Brightly colored bougainvillea,
topping the stuccoed walls.
A sea breeze blows in from the Bay,
and through the market stalls

From Auroville down to the back-
waters where ships are docked,
Lighthouse beams shone out to sea —
now they’re beacon-topped.

The old churches and the temples,
the stacks of libraries,
Past written in six languages
in the obituaries