IT’S THERE IN THE WALLS
The concrete in the Pantheon is two thousand years old,
and the dome arches up over me when I
dive down from the Spanish Steps and let my gaze glide
along the walls and up to the opening at the very top
of the oldest temple we know. Is it the grace of the gods
that drifts down and lets us gain a glimpse of eternity, or
is it the walls that hold us in their curved hands so as
to lead our longing up towards a heaven that has given us the sun
and the stars, and for a long while hidden its myriads of planets
and distant galaxies until Galileo peeked behind the curtains? We
do not find God in the universe, I have more faith in the walls
of concrete that have withstood moisture and decomposition.
The walls do not leak, the walls of concrete contain lime
particles that originally come from the volcanic ash in the area
where Vesuvius is located. The ash from the earth’s interior is there
in the walls and seals the cracks when water trickles in. I pat the wall
cautiously and thank our ancestors in Antiquity, who must have suspected
that creation takes place where ash leaves fire.
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