[CITIES AND THE SKY 3]
“Those who arrive at Thekla can see little of the city, beyond the plank fences, the sackcloth screens, the scaffoldings, the metal armatures, the wooden catwalks hanging from ropes or supported by sawhorses, the ladders, the trestles.
If you ask “Why is Thekla’s construction taking such a long time?” the inhabitants continue hoisting sacks, lowering leaded strings, moving long bruses up and down,
As they answer “So that it’s destruction cannot begin.”
And if asked whether they fear that, once the scaffoldings are removed, the city may begin to crumble and fall to pieces, they add hastily, in a whisper, “Not only the city.”
If, dissatisfied with the answers, someone puts his eye to a crack in a fence, he sees cranes pulling up other cranes, scaffoldings that embrace other scaffoldings, beams that prop up other beams.
“What meaning does your construction have?” he asks. “What is the aim of a city under construction unless it is a city? Where is the plan you are following, the blueprint?”
“We will show it to you as soon as the working day is over; we cannot interrupt our work now,” they answer.
Work stops at sunset. Darkness falls over the building site. The sky is filled with stars.
“There is the blueprint,” they say.
—- Italo Calvino in [Invisible Cities]
[城市和天空之三]
除了木板围墙、帆布屏障、足台、铁架、绳索吊着或者锯木架承着的木板、梯子和高架桥之外，到莎克拉来的旅客只能看见城的小部分。
如果你问，“莎克拉的建筑工程为什么总不能完成呢？”
市民就会一边继续抬起一袋袋的材料、垂下水平锤、上下挥动长刷子，一边回答说：“这么着，朽败(毁灭〕就不可能开始。”
如果你追问他们是不是害怕一旦拆掉足台，城就会完全倒塌，他们会赶紧低声说，“不仅仅是城哩。”
假使有人不满意这些答案而窥望围墙的裂缝，就会看见起重机吊着别些起重机、足台围着别些足台、梁柱架起别些梁柱。
“你们的建设有什么意义呢？”他问。“除非它是一个城，否则建设中的城有什么目的呢？你们的计划、蓝图在哪里呢？”
“今天的工作干完之后，我们会让你看的；现在我们不能停下来，”他们厕答。
工作在日落时停止，黑暗笼罩着工地。天上布满星星。“蓝图就在那里，”他们说。 ”
“看不见的城市”————————-卡尔维诺
*Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.*
tHeRe wEre nO LoNgEr ShaDOwS tO HelP hEr sEE MorE cLearly, oNlY glARe