The Graveyard.

There's a large graveyard in the center of Antalya, very close to where the new school is. I often go there over my lunch break. It's the quietest, calmest place within a mile or two. All of the graves face the same direction, towards Mecca. Some of them are fairly new. Many of them are quite old. A few of them are very small, and most of them are above ground. I go there and watch the trees sway and listen to the call to prayer and leave bread crumbs for the birds and pet the stray cats and walk among the stones and think about their names and dates. It doesn't bother me as much as it does some of my work friends. The place is almost deserted. I walk and I breathe and I imagine the stones and the sidewalks and the layers of earth slowly crumbling away, until all that remains are the bones and me. My future and their past. All in one place, all hopefully at peace. At least for a few minutes.