Monday, December 26, 2011
The Taj Mahal
Having already seen the Taj Mahal a few times, I thought I would be
perhaps blase. But no. Framed by the red sandstone southern gate
archway, I saw a hint of the Taj, like you might see a cheekbone and
one eye through someone's scarf wrapped around their head. The arches,
though they were 30 feet high at least, did not reveal the Taj in her
entirety. I walked along the center line of symmetry, slowly,
deliberately, one foot after another, while tourists flooded in around
me, eagerly, assymetrically, into the opening. The Taj rose, creamy
and pale, and I knew then what Jupiter might look like as it rises
over the horizon of Io, and then suddenly breaking away from all
horizon, hovers, like a marbled dream entirely filling half the sky.
perhaps blase. But no. Framed by the red sandstone southern gate
archway, I saw a hint of the Taj, like you might see a cheekbone and
one eye through someone's scarf wrapped around their head. The arches,
though they were 30 feet high at least, did not reveal the Taj in her
entirety. I walked along the center line of symmetry, slowly,
deliberately, one foot after another, while tourists flooded in around
me, eagerly, assymetrically, into the opening. The Taj rose, creamy
and pale, and I knew then what Jupiter might look like as it rises
over the horizon of Io, and then suddenly breaking away from all
horizon, hovers, like a marbled dream entirely filling half the sky.
