Prague, The city of timelessness
Where the past coexists with the present
attempts to embrace the future.
The museum of communism
is a museum alright
sharing this floor with a casino
while a Mcdonalds showcases a future
on the ground floor
all but overarching the museum
The buildings have history and character
holding many a gory past
but present a picture of legacy
for the ever-coming tourists
I watch many a man,
kneeling on the icy cold road
to beg for alms and food
and maybe some wine
for a cold wintery night
The churches seem empty
and so do the cathedrals and basilicas
standing tall and majestic
but humbled by nature
and the new face of humankind.
They appease the tourists
but not the old woman
groceries in one hand
and stick in another
negotiating
the icy cold winds, snows
and the muck of the city.
The city survives
with its charmed tourists
but its own children seldom enter its gates.
Two days in this city
has been a time for reflections
and contradictions too.
I no longer seem to enjoy the facade
shown to the ever-hungry tourist
camera in tow and borrowed smiles too.
Who see the sky and its majestic palaces
but don't wish to scratch the surface
to see the dark underbelly
a reflection of their own city
and soul.
The statues say more
than the people walking past
The statues say more
in their silence than
the clatter of chatter all over
I hear them cry to save our souls
before we decay
forever and ever more.
The statues say more!
This is not the city
she once knew
and wonders
will she ever find
the city of her childhood?
A man asks if I want marijuana
another if I want a woman
some would say yes,
others hesitate but curious.
I walked away
scared and bewildered
curious still.
Its a city of loneliness,
like many a big city
few smiles and even little compassion
its no different from my city
or any other that prides in being a city
with empty hearts and transient dreams
Everyone a nobody
attempting to be a somebody
I wonder
will we ever find
the city of our childhood
anywhere at all!
I wonder
Do we wish to find it?
As I conclude my journey
in this city of timelessness
I dread going back
to the city of my dreams
and my failures
~ 25th July 2010
These are posts I wrote on a tissue sitting at a local bar in Prague in January 2010. I had almost forgotten them till tonight I thought was a good night to resurrect them before they crumble into the lifeless life of the tissue. One part of me tells me to just let them fade away into the invisibility of the tissue and another part of me wants to eternalize them by capturing them here. I chose the later for some of them and tore away the rest. It was the combination of being alone in a new country and just having lost a loved one to the complexities of complex relationships that made me the writer this cold January evening in Prague. It was also maybe the romanticism of the city of Prague. Don't know.
