he ded did WS baP A sibyl, questioned about Marona’s ft, ssid “I see ‘to cites: one ofthe rar, one of the swallow.” ‘This we the ineeprestcn of the oracle: today ‘Marocia isa city where all run ehrough leaden pas- sages like packs of rts who tear fom ene azothers teeth the leftovers which fll from the eth of the mest voracions ones; bue & new century is abou 12 begin in which all the inhabitanrs of Maria will fy like swallows in che summer sky calling one ancehee ss ina game, showing ff, eeie wings stil, as choy swoop, clearing che ar of mosquits and gaas. “Ie is time for the century ofthe rat to end and the ceneary f the swallow eo begin,” the more de- ‘ermined std. In fice, alrely beneath the grim and pet rash dominion, you could sese, amcng the less obvious people a pondering, the preparition ofa svallowlike fight, heading for the eransparcet aie ith a deft lick of tbe cil, chen tracing with theie ‘wings blade the curve of aa opening horizon. have come back ¢9 Marsia afer many yess: for some time the siby’s propbecy is considered to have ‘come true; the old century is dead and buried, the new is ot its climax. The city har early changed, and pethaps forthe beter. But the wings Ihave seen moving about are those of suspicious umbrells under which heary eyelids are lowered; chere are peo- le who believe they ae Bying, bue ie is alceady an 7 4 achievement if they can ger ofthe ground Rapping thet baile overoste, {also happens chat, if you move along, Moot ‘compact walls, vhen you lett expect it. you see crack open and a differee city appeas. Thea, an ine sane later, ie has alecacy vanished. Perhaps every: ‘thing lies in knowing wae words to speak, what a ons 0 periorm, and in what order and chyehm; of ‘the someone « gare, axswer, gesture is enough; itis ough for someone co do something for the sheer Pleasure of doing it, and for his pleasure to become the pleasure of exhert: at that moment, all spaces change, all heighes, distances; the city ss cransige lured, becomes crystalline, eraceparen as a dagondy. ‘Bat everything mast happen as iby chance, wichout araching too much importance tit, without iasit- ing chat you are perfrming a decisive operation, ‘remembering lealy that any moment the old Maro. 2ia will retum and solder ie ceiling of soce, cab ‘webe, and mold over all bra’. ‘Was the oracle mistaken? Not necesaily. 1 an terpret it in this way: Marozia consists of rwo cites, the rats and che owalon’s; bth change vith time, bu ther relationship does nee change; the second is ‘the one about to fice islf fom the frst. 55