There are certainly people
living in fantastic cities
there, behind the mountains
Houses piled up
towers sevenfold
in the river, unworldly
rich with gold
which even upstream
silts upon the stones
where butterflies find flower pots
block after block, and leaves
for the caterpillars, their colours
a wonderful pattern
a familiar mystery
which the oracle does not explain
It is everywhere
if ever it should be lost
in the city of floods
and subsiding quays, which
in their collapse, can take none
of the wonders
"Eudoxia & Olinda" (2012, Aspasia Nasopoulou), for piano
"Le città invisibili" ("The invisible cities", 1972, Italo Calvino) about Venice
"Il Milione" ("The Million [Marvels]", 1300, Rustichello da Pisa) about Marco Polo (1254-1324)
Collection "org anp ark" #180