Framing Time

The first time I saw true love it appeared in front of a clear summer sky on a half cracked ledge built from marble and limestone. For a moment it lived six feet above the railing sign that cautioned, “do not lean”. It was 3 pm in a mid summer heat wave when I heard this love become larger than itself. Not even the cold raspberry gelato spilling onto my hand from the shop downtown could cool me off. Love comes and goes as it pleases and this time it came at a place most fitting. The place was over two thousand years old and had the unique ability to carry its experiences around the globe and to infinite past and future generations. This experience of love added to the richness of the past cultural treasures. The arena, that had previously collected the glory of gladiatorial contest winners and understood the pain and joy of watching the execution of a sinner, had now acquired a proclamation of love set deep within its stone. Now, the world looks to the Colosseum as a being that represents life every time it flashes gold signaling that the capitol punishment is abolished somewhere in the world. The Colosseum is able to represent life because it is created through the lives of its visitors. The visitors bring their own experiences, each one building upon the last to forever be engrained within the architecture. I was standing on a piece of that history when my experience placed itself within the Colosseum walls to be stored and shared forever. The sweat was beading down my forehead and onto the pathway that was worn down by constant treading when a nearby man screamed, “I love you Joanne” at the top of his lungs with all of his power. His words met with the old, became the new and stayed for the future travellers to know. Leaning over, exhausted from the three-tiered climb in the scorching summer heat, the man gripped his kneecaps that were now composing his entire existence. Shouting his love so proudly knocked the wind right out of him, leaving him to recover with the security guard who advised that standing on the ledge again is cause for removal. Walking through the heat I watched a girl who was no older than 10 skip through each blanket of sun to the next available sliver of shade. Behind her, that father was doing his best to keep up his energy. The first time I saw love it was a greying father struggling to keep up with his daughter and using his last rush of energy to let arena past, present and future travellers know that he loves his wife.