taken in Sevilla, Spain
It seems that after all these years, I have become a Spaniard, and a Sevillano at that. I have fallen in love with this city of luxuriant plazas and opulent cool groves—so similar and yet so different from my faraway home of burning sands and frigid nights of crystal-dusted skies.
I first came across the strait with Tariq ibn Ziyad, landing on the rocks that still bear his name. I was in the sparks that flew from his horse’s hooves and the light that flashed along the blade of his sword. I was the fire burning in his heart that spurred him and his followers on to victory.
I was with Jabir ibn Aflah as he planned and built the Giralda where I now live and look down on the city that I have adopted over centuries of residence. It has grown slowly but I always stay the same.
There are no other jinn here. Sometimes I think about returning to those hot, dusty expanses of my youth, far over water and sand and lands that have become strange to me. The moods come but then pass. Here, in my Sevilla, I carry on an austere companionship with the people. At sunset, when I come out to bid farewell to the Great Lady for another day, the people see my fire gleaming on the edges of the shield of Faith at the top of the tower.
“¡Mira!” they cry. “The spirit of the Giralda is shining.” That is what I have become: the spirit of the Giralda. And even when the tower is finally laid low, I will not abandon this city.
The Green-Walled Tower 
June 23rd, 2013 at 10:29 pm
Great words on Spain. I lived near Madrid for 10 years while in the Air Force. Loved every minute of it. Been through Sevilla but never stayed there for any length of time. Lots of other places in central and the east coast of Spain I’ve been to, though. Quite a country, or at least it was way back when.
Nice piece.
June 23rd, 2013 at 10:33 pm
This was mostly for my wife, who lived in Sevilla for a while and absolutely loves it. She would move there in a heartbeat. I love it too, although I don’t know if I’d want to live there. There are a lot of beautiful places in that country though.
June 24th, 2013 at 4:29 pm
spain looks like a very beautiful, colourful country to an outsider! Madonna is Spaniard, is not she?
the story is magical, so is the photograph!
June 24th, 2013 at 8:54 pm
Thanks. I do like Spain a lot, although I’ve only been there one time. (I think Madonna is American though).
June 26th, 2013 at 2:19 pm
I meant her ancestors.