The city in the forest (La ciudad en el bosque)

First day back at RMIT University.  So exhausted, curious, excited and sad for what I’ve left behind, all at the same time.  Lovely new colleagues and I enjoyed my little walk through Melbourne Central and Myer after work.  Oh, and the dumplings for dinner with ‘T’ in China Town were a nice end to the day.  From my Dad’s book Elementary motherland (Patria elemental). 

The city in the forest (La ciudad en el bosque)

If one day the city died again and

its site was the only thing left, perhaps

it would not be needed, to reconstruct it, the loving

theodolite of Engineer Andrade.

Rain and the days would be enough.

I would suggest a forest of grids,

the green of the ground seeds

in the disciplined geometry of the original vegetation,

surviving between the remains of the

cement and the crumbled stone walls.

A miracle.  To begin the reconstruction

it would only be necessary to follow

the symmetrical strings reproduced in

vegetal green by Nature with the help

of time, rain and the sun.

Life would re-start under the

freshness of the ‘Cují’ and almond trees.

Note: ‘Cují’ or Prosopis juliflora (Spanish: bayahonda blanca) is a small tree native to Mexico, South America and the Caribbean).