Cock-a-doodle-dooooo!

Morning

Saranda (Sa-ron-da) , Albania 2024

Somewhere in a corner of Saranda, a hound bays.

On the balcony, the air is nippy, but just a little. In the shadows, six stories below, the street-sweepers are out. They swish empty cigarette boxes and fallen leaves into their carts, then rattle on.

Plump gray clouds crawl along, tops glowing in a full moon’s light. As one cloud blocks out the moonshine, the brightest stars appear, only to fade as the cloud drifts east.

I start a kettle of water boiling and put on my fleece. I love mixing teabags, and when I fill my mug with boiling water, the aroma swirls up with the steam. “Ah… peppermint and chamomile,” I said to myself.

A man’s voice calls out.

“Allāhu Akbar. Allāhu Akbar.”[1] (Allah is the Greatest. Allah is the Greatest.)

Next door, a string of large speakers circling a Mosque’s minaret, sends his voice echoing across the town.

“Ashhadu an lā ilāha illa llāh...” (I testify there is nothing worthy of worship except God.)

“Ashhadu anna muḥammadan rasūlu llāh...” (I testify Muhammad is the messenger of God.)

“Ḥayya ʿala ṣ-ṣalāh...” (Come to prayer.)

“Ḥayya ʿala l-falāḥ...” (Come to success.)

“Aṣ-ṣalātu khayrun mina n-nawm...” (Prayer is better than sleep.)

“Allāhu Akbar...” (God is greater.)

“Lā ilāha illā llāh...” (There is nothing worthy of worship except God.)

With a click, there’s breathless silence. I think about my daughters and how sometimes, when they were little, I’d coax them from sleep with a song.

A tiny sliver of scarlet fringes the mountains. Then, close by, a rooster trumpets “cock-a-doodle-dooooo!” Can he somehow see the coming light, or is he more devoted than he seems?

[1] Adhan from Wikipedia, shortened for this blog post.