The Al-Andalus Quartet: Part Three

THE AL-ANDALUS QUARTET: PART THREE GRANADA / KHARNATA 1492 AD / 897 AH I live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada with my beautiful sisters Albaicin and Sabikah The crown that I wear is al-hisn al-hamra and the shadow of my Spanish self is a City of Islam The cool mountain waters that nourish my gardens of intoxicating bouquets and the colors of paradise, are washing away the prayer call of the muezzin, the rituals of the faithful, the final veneer of my people on this land Many must leave, take their arts and their sciences to Fez and Meknes, to the rarified air in the brown upland valleys of the Rif and the Atlas to inlay themselves in the crystals of sand which, driven by winds, must reshape the walls of North Africa’s soul But here we remain, poised to continue as echoes and apparitions, distorted reflections in the historical mirror, the dominant element in the paradoxical palimpsest of the regional landscape, enchanting, seductive, that as Al-Andalus becomes Andalucia, the victorious colors of Castilla and Leon become the newest of flowers in the mosaic of gardens among the wandering alleys, within the highest of walls, behind the wrought-iron gates and the crafted wood doors in the slowly disintegrating mists of remembrance between shadow and form in the spirit of Granada Emanuel Carter