Writing to see

At her blog, Seedlings in Stone, L.L. Barkat posted a writer's challenge. So, I closed my eyes and tried to see and feel and hear. I recalled a long ago Cameroon night after our car accident and wrote:

Back from the Clinic

In velvet darkness
punctuated by
pinprick lights
from scattered huts
A pregnant mother
walks.
Lantern swinging
in her husband's grip
sheds dim swaying light.
Enough to see their way
along an African road.

I close my eyes and I can still see that couple.

I sit, enveloped in velvet darkness peace,
on the torn backseat
of a white pick-up,
My son asleep,
His head on my shoulder,
His swollen leg across my lap,
I can still feel hardened cast
and gauze wrap,
Solid and rough under my fingers.

I close my eyes and I can still hear
His breathing,
deep and even,
And the quiet remarks
of the men in the front seat,
As we pass expectant pair,
She's on her way
to the clinic.
Think she'll make it?