Clearing

Today I have been cleaning my glass-ceramic stove. I have been cleaning the rings of my vitro. The vitro is made up of foufr rings. They were covered. By rests of burnt oil and burnt soot. As the four rings slowly emerged, I have imagined and felt the wonder an archaeologist must feel as he or she uncovers a small remainder of civilization which has been buried in the sand. As he slowly clears and wipes the rests hiding the remains of what was there before. It is the same wonder that a restaurer must feel as he uncovers the painting that was. As he slowly discovers one brush stroke and another, one colour, as the colours becames clear and bright. Or the same wonder a psychologist must feel as he clears the coverings of an old personality buried, left there, like a forsaken garden, for the many years in which wastage and wild plants have blurred the outlines of what was a carefully built structure.