It was lonely standing there . Rafeel wanted tears and he got them . This time he cried for himself .
He moved on from the family graves . He reared the headstones as he walked around . Village names prevailed . He could not find Rozeena ' s name anywhere . He found the grave of Hussani Powely , the loyal servant of his grandfather . It had been so many years ago that he had almost forgotten Hussani ' s face , his calloused working hands , and his dark crackled lips . The length of his body as he raised the trowel into the air , bringing it into earth with force and hope . Hope that land would be fertile . He died but land never turned fertile .
Closing his eyes , Rafeel pictured his grandfather climbing the cliff . It was a very cold day . He grunted with the effort of pulling himself from hand hold to hand hold , his breath steamy . As he climbed , Rafeel waited for him to lose his grip , for him to lose his footing , for him to fall . But nothing could stop his grandfather , neither gravity nor fear . Up and up he went , vigorous in his youth , irrepressible , fearing nothing , needing no-one but himself . Halting at the lip of the rock wall , fifty feet above the stream , he looked up at the sky and gave a victory yell that rang out along the valley and sent the rooks up cawing from the trees . But now he was lying in the grave and death was giving a victory yell at his grave .
It was almost midnight when he reached the surroundings of his village . He remembered the loud barking of the dogs when he used to return home late , from the fight with wild beasts . Hung with ugly truths , he stood there , but this time he was returning after a long and tiring fight against human beasts , who have never been overcome ! At that disappointing moment , he imagined the old face of his mother and ran like a child towards his home , the last refuge of every falling man .
The End
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