A few days break.
I have been away: to where domes meet spires; where the Byzantium citizens held off marauding nomads; and where there was so much awe-inspiring artistry in all directions that it was like something too piquant on the tongue. Eventually I couldn't taste at all.
'You've fallen in love with it.' My mother said, and I think I have. The rest of the world fell away. Gold leaf glittered on the walls and narrow lanes ended abruptly in the gentle green of jade.
Light flickered off roofs and I was woken each morning by bells peeling across the square and the smell of spiced bread rising from someone making deliveries below. A Vivaldi and then a Bach violin concerto in the hall of a medieval prison had such beauty and yet evoked such painful memories that I had to force myself to stay.
Now I feel I have lost track. I keep thinking about that place and wondering what I'm doing.
'You've fallen in love with it.' My mother said, and I think I have. The rest of the world fell away. Gold leaf glittered on the walls and narrow lanes ended abruptly in the gentle green of jade.
Light flickered off roofs and I was woken each morning by bells peeling across the square and the smell of spiced bread rising from someone making deliveries below. A Vivaldi and then a Bach violin concerto in the hall of a medieval prison had such beauty and yet evoked such painful memories that I had to force myself to stay.
Now I feel I have lost track. I keep thinking about that place and wondering what I'm doing.
posted by Clare Dudman at 11:05 am
6 Comments:
It'll come to you, no doubt. I envy your trip away, but I know all about coming back again and feeling displaced. Still, good to hear about it.
Yes, I was lucky - I'd forgotten how great it is just to get away (even if it is just for three nights) and feel you don't have to do anything.
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Going to try this again. My name link didn't work as I expected it to.
Hurray for your inspiring trip! Milk your time warp for all it's worth. The feeling will evaporate all too soon.
It was wonderful, Mary. I think you're right.
I know what you mean about that sense of confusion when you return home, you feel lost, like perhaps you left a bit of yourself back there. Which reminds me, I haven't been away in too long.
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