The bush burned
with fire and
was not consumed,
not burnt . . .
God called from
the bush . . .
Here I am.



Safara torches the house overlooking the sea.

In bedclothes, neighbors watch the blaze. Safara,

silent, unsmiling, is escorted to a nearby cloister.

No one suspects her of arson, of burning down

the house.








(Projector whirring.  Film begins.)   Close-upof bush spontaneously bursting into flames.  They lick Safara's face.  The bush reassembles; twice more the sequence recurs.  The flamesdissolve into charred embers and black plumes of smoke.  Her face is smeared with soot.  Black over brown.  (Film ends.)



Christy Sheffield Sanford, Copyright © 1996.