Explanation: Railway of Time
The poem “Railway of Time” presents itself as an elegy meditation on the elusive nature of time and its intrinsic relationship with memory and inner experience. Through a central, powerful yet intangible metaphor—that of an invisible railway cutting through the “courtyards of time”—the author invites us to explore the non-linear paths through which we perceive and relive the past.
The first verse immediately introduces the core image: a “whisper of invisible rails” crossing the spaces of existence. This absence of visibility is fundamental; time here is not a linear entity or visible flow, but rather a fragmented space, “courtyards,” through which moves not a concrete train, but the “memory that passes.” Memory thus becomes the true vehicle, the only tangible trace of an otherwise ethereal journey, suggesting that time, once lived, crystallizes solely in subjective recollection.
The second stanza deepens the metaphorical geography of these “courtyards.” They “widen and close like doors,” evoking the idea that the spaces of the mind and experience are dynamic, mutable, capable of opening and closing upon different moments and memories. The perception of time itself is distorted: “the minutes fold in silence, elegant and slow,” a description alluding to the elastic nature of temporal duration, especially when filtered through the lens of contemplation. Echo, what remains of a sound or an event, is what “remains to measure breaths,” an image linking time’s impermanence to life’s most intimate vitality.
The third poetic movement focuses on the sensory impact and the more intimate dimension of transit. The “lights tremble” and the “steps remain mute,” creating an atmosphere of rarefaction, almost ghostly. The invisible train, though not manifesting concretely, “brushes your inner courtyards,” transforming the experience of time from an abstract concept into a deeply personal and almost physical impression. The olfactory sensation—“leaving scent of rain and copper”—is particularly evocative. Rain can symbolize melancholy, purification, or renewal, while copper, a metal that slowly oxidizes, may recall the passage of time, the antiquity of memories, or even a certain weariness of the soul, leaving a persistent and peculiar imprint.
The final stanza offers a resolution, or rather, a profound awareness. “When leco falls silent,” when direct memory or sensory resonance fades, “a subtle trace remains.” This trace is not concrete, but the sign of “a journey that crosses everything without form,” an existential experience that transcends physicality and linearity. The poem concludes with “an invitation to find time within your hands.” It is not an invitation to stop time, nor to understand it rationally, but to reclaim it, to live it with awareness, to recognize its intrinsic value beyond its invisibility and elusive passage.
Overall, “Railway of Time” is a work that, through suggestive language and powerful metaphors, invites the reader to deep introspection on their relationship with time and memory. It emphasizes how the absence of visibility does not imply an absence of presence, and how the true journey takes place in inner spaces, where echo and scent become the only precious traces of an existence in continuous becoming.