Yesterday was talk.  Today I’m really here … in the Gent Sint-Pieters train station.

After lingering over my mandarins and yogurt in the main lobby, feeling the art on the walls, here I sit in Starbucks.  More old paintings, some coloured drawings and three domed mosaic ceilings.  Voilà:

I love the curves above.  It feels like they’re blessing me.

***

At the far end of the room stands this clock.  Minute by minute the hand progresses.

And to translate the Latin:

It escapes … irretrievable time

Ahh yes.  On we go, and go and go.  My cappuccino feels eternal and universal.  The sipping may be through anyone’s mouth – past, present … or future.

***

The lobby showed me the world.  Straight up in the middle of the ceiling, there’s a swirl of steam and speed.  Trains have always taken people to their destinations.  There’s a lift under our wings as we go out and about.

The image is mesmerizing … and way up high.

***

Soon after entering the station, I sought my home – the city of Gent.  And it found me:

The churches of centrum, the gabled roofs, the curving hats of Rabot – the painter saw them long ago.  I see them now.  And may young kids grow into adults who still look up … at the walls of Gent Sint-Pieters.

There is much to see