Light and beauty

Some glass frames, hiding stairs of a Dresden concrete high rise
from East German socialist times (colors rearranged).
Whenever I travelled to the East in the 80's,
I was impressed about how ugly their architecture was.
Grey seemed to be their favorite color,
concrete their material of choice.
I couldn't believe that this design was the outcome
of a lack of resources.
I thought that maybe they wanted to redefine
what's beautiful.
But now I think, as soon as I was back in the West,
they put on some secret tiny glasses that altered
their perception of color into something shiny,
letting you enjoy the most beautiful colors you can imagine.
All the beauty was out there all the time.
I just couldn't see.

Echoes of the past

Travelled to Dresden recently.
A city of 800 years - and too many bombs in 1945.
Same streets, same sky some 60 years later.
A city like a sad, aching creature.
Grow, shrink, get burned, torn down.
Breathe and die.
May get some new life in the shadow of the past.
People long gone. Bricks still there.
Some new urban fabric coming up
between old houses and another generation.
Dresden's heart is still a strange place.