barcelona arriba

from a lacy bridge that stretches unexpectedly between two buildings above a hidden back street, so whimsically evocative of amorous prowling in the deep dark night...

to the exposed patchwork of interior walls looming over the demolition site now being excavated for its Roman foundations...

 "Not palaces, an era's crown

Where the mind dwells, intrigues, rests;

Architectural gold-leaved flower

From people ordered like a single mind,

I build.  This only what I tell:

It is too late for rare accumulation,
For family pride, for beauty's filtered dusts;...

 ...Leave your gardens, your singing feasts,

Your dreams of suns circling before our sun,

Of heaven after our world.

 Instead, watch images of flashing glass

That strike the outward sense, the polished will,

Flag of our purpose which the wind engraves."*

[*selected verses are from "Not Palaces, an Era's Crown" by Stephen SPENDER, 1909-95]