by A. S. Maulucci

Created on: April 14, 2009

CITIES, BOTH ANCIENT AND MODERN

There was a time when men believed

that cities were ordained by a god.

Gods had always been of the country,

embedded in the mountains,

embodied in the trees,

enfolded in the rivers.

Divine sparks were forever flashing

in the forests and fields.

Hunters and gatherers saw them commonly.

But a god for the city was something new,

and it sparked a sudden leap

in the opening of the mind

to government and philosophy,

to art and literature.

Cities were so monumental

that the task could only be undertaken

by divine command.

An oracle had to tell men what to look for,

an eagle with a serpent in its beak,

or a solar eclipse or the birth of twins,

signs like these would mark

the location of the city's seed,

the place where its roots must take hold.

So magnificent were the ancient cities

that men would give up their lands or lives for them,

and the imagination of poets

would look back and create a legend or a myth,

for nothing less would satisfy the soul.

But these were cities with a human heart,

inspired by the gods and made in the image of man,

to serve his needs, preserve his well being,

and ensure his advancement.

Then the age of the machine came along

and turned cities into gigantic dynamos

for the production goods and services.

The ancient heart of the city withered,

confined to a few blocks of precarious real estate,

retained for the sake of history.

And the soul of the city

was just about annihilated

in favor of industry and commerce.

Man was overpowered by his machines

and over-towered by his skyscrapers.

All these massive buildings,

all this colossal dynamism made him insignificant

except as a caretaker of the monsters of mercantilism.

And the age of the gods died out,

replaced by the rule of goods.

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