You have stopped at the roadside and are leaving again.

You are the white man passing by and we are the dark shadows of ghosts against the light.

Living spirits who do no harm, pure souls who cannot be frightening, even though they live on the other side of the sun, the opposite of what is considered right and normal.

We are not like you, we do not have clothes or shoes to go far away.

We do not have engines to go fast, to stop and start again.

We do not have the words to give us justification, a reason.

But we have big eyes to look and a desire to wonder, to learn.

We can laugh, point at you, ask you the first thing that comes to mind.

Capture your attention, for what little it may take.

And if you stand still for a while, tell us something, even if only to take a photograph, you will realise that even shadows, if you give them dignity, become people.

Even ghosts light up and with them thoughts, dreams.

As if we could all be in the sunlight, in this world.

(photo by Leni Frau)