June 28 1999 - Dublin

I've bought liquor and on the way back I've a hankering for a roof, any roof; the sky's alive this evening. Oh I wish in my head for a green, a roof, a seclusion to dance on at night. While maybe not satisfying all these requirements, in my quest for sky I realize (Duh!) that the best roof in the vicinity is behind our own out back (we live above the 'Darling Buds of May' florists on Lord Edward St.), and I hurry home. This involves climbing out the bathroom window (which is high) on the third floor to get onto the roof.

The first time I watch a sunset entire, with full concentration, in Ireland, and the fact is I haven't observed one in a very long time, and then some. (What college 'll do.) From a three story ledge looking over Christ Church. Lovely.

So I was listening to music very late in bed tonight, got up and saw a distorted white beam coming through the bathroom window, and immediately knew that it was full moon. (Also my first seen Full Moon in Ireland.) Oh My. No wonder you're skittish.

So I dress, grab my newly acquired bottle of wine (with ancillary regrets of what I've left back home) -nevermind, I have a stack of cassette tapes and climb back out on the roof. It's a moon watching spot. Oh Joy. I drink the whole thing, I sing the songs, chatter amused-ly to myself, but mainly I sing. Tonight I was in communion.

The roof is metal and corrugated every five inches or so but the strip on the peak is flat (though peaked), and I end up dancing its length all over repeatedly. To my delight I find I can shadow dance. The street lamp put a vivid template on the brick wall of our apartment. There are even two paler subsidiary ghosts. So I'm dancing on a metal balance beam, sloped with a peak, slippery with dew. I never fell, but I had a delightful time.