TE19 Iberian Adventure

Passing Time in Portugal

entered the old town through the 11th century Moorish Archway. Inside the silent, narrow streets of the old town, the Gothic Cathedral has survived lootings, earthquakes, and contrasting fortunes. Passenger jets swoop on the approach beside the belfry of the Cathedral that was restored in the Baroque fashion. The interior boasts renaissance paintings, polished marble, and golden statues by the master sculptor Manuel Martins. “Paid for with Brazilian gold,” Grandad postulated. Underneath, the ‘Chapel of Bones’ is lined with the skulls of 1,000 monks. “In the end, the only question that matters is how we spent the time.” Grandfather tapped a skull pressed into the wall. “Time extends beyond the reachof memory…Time, likeaviolent stream, is carried away. The journey’s end approaches and, when finally the course is run, we leave the world behind.” Time passes unnoticed, overtaking each subsequent generation. Those around us don’t seem to age, even as we too are aging, so that the nature of time we sense in absence and reunion.” “What will you do now you’ve finished school?” Grandad asked. “Fear the un-lived life,” I thought of my peers, they see their parents’ unfulfilled lives, and they’re running full speed in the opposite direction. “Those were the instructions.” When did they lose their way? They stepped onto a train but never asked where it would take them. Look at the wage slaves chained to their desks. There is no flame in their hearts, only 165 “Memories too,” Grandad paused, “as sand escapes the hourglass.”