Rode the train to Lucca this afternoon,
just a quick visit because it was impossible
to get up early enough this morning
to make a day of it.
We arrived in fading light
and rushed straight to the walls,
to circle before dark descended.
It was a bittersweet visit;
Lucca within its walls
has an almost mythic significance for me,
it is un-watered-down Italy,
pure, old, the way it was. . .
possibly becoming passé.
And so today, sharing it with someone
who sees it (maddeningly),
as just another stop along the line,
I had to draw back again and again
and find for myself the magic of the place.
The streets felt coldly impersonal.
Retail windows seem vibrant,
but only those of the 'modern' places.
The traditional, former-fashioned
food stores, the daily stops,
so achingly authentic, lovingly tended
and dear, are fading I'm afraid.
They are staffed and patronized
by original elders and it doesn't seem
as though there will
be others like them, to carry on.
The buzzy shops are hip: cool fashion,
making a statement that
the Future is now, tapping into the
purses of those willing and with
money to spend.