Jamal

Jamal
Tells me in an English that
Emphasizes words in new places
Which distracts me
As we walk down to imlil
The famous mountain village
Where he is from
“I like you and I don’t why”
I know the rest of his sentence
Bc this is the fifth day together
And our level of comfort
Has become what it is bt
People who have walked together
For so many days
“why you don’t like me”
The sun is shaded as we walk down
And it comes onto the ground
In clumps of shapes, leaves
With light around them
We both savor the cool shelter
And the blocking of the sun
I still feel my nose suffering
From the severe burn of the first day
His insistence makes me relieved
That I have chosen to end our trek early that
Day and go to Marrakesh to relax
I wonder what I have done to
Deserve such wretched discussion
In such lovely circumstances
And then the moment passes
As we come on to the short line
Of shops
Familiar faces young boys
Who are not mountain guides
Who did not take the examiniations
But still sport the quechua attire
So revered here
Say hello and I laugh and say hello back
In days I have become part of the
Ecosystem of Imlil
Bc of my solitary tourism
And my muslim name
And my female gender
Everyone seems to giggle a little as I walk by
The boy asks if we can trade something for
Something
My jacket
He proposes
And I quickly reject him
“do you know how much I love this jacket”
It has some strange grid technology of
Warmth inside so that I wore it
During the hottest and coldest
Moments of our trek
He says au voir
And I walk on down the hill of remaining shops
Jamal has been walking ahead
As he does
And goes up to the café
“we wait for the taxi here”
He knows I need to know the plan
Then he walks off
He wears jeans today
Knowing it was going to be light
And his red fleece vest
The one he wore the whole trip
His height is mine
But what attracted
The morrocan woman in the riad
Later that day
were his contrasting spotted green eyes
and his gentle wise quiet
He has learned to guide wreckless
And demanding tourists
Wanting to climb the mountains
Surrounding his childhood
Some push him to climb harder and longer
Others to make sure their irresponsibility
Doesn’t seep into his day
He watches people
And knows their abilities the first hour
He is proud of all of this
And tells me about it
“me I know the people”
His soft skin brightened by that berber
Yellow
A color that would be almost impossible to
Replicate in its glow darkness and lightness
All at once
He walks off for the taxi
I begin taking pictures quickly of imlil
Of its shops and the boys sitting around
Trying to avoid the british tourist
Walking about
The mountain is in the view and the trees of
Cherry, orange and fig are as well
The perfect sun in the periwinkle sky
Is hopeful
And I don’t feel the sadness of my pending
Departure
The taxi arrives and behind the car
The driver takes a picture
Of Jamal and I in front of the town
Jamal later reveals
That this is the first picture together
During the whole trip
Exposing his sensitivity to our every action
To my every action towards him
I ignore this and all the other statements
Made
And enjoy the view from the rear window of the car
As we drive away from toubkal
And the days of walking the valley and mountains
Then suddenly I ask him to have lunch with me in
Marrakesh
In the café he tells me in six years it’s the first
Time he eats with a tourist
In Marrakesh
Though he has been asked several times
He is ready for our farewell
I am not bc I want his continued company
In the winding ways of the medina
We say goodbye on the outer street
He is sentimental
And I am not
resisting his
Attempt to kiss me
I say goodbye and laugh
I walk away
And take more photos of the
Jemma al fna before
Going back to the riad
To rest
That night,
I turn off the Spanish television show
And begin to cry
Missing jamal’s eye over me