Overwhelmed

A little more than a week that I am here and still I am overwhelmed, by the size, of this huge mass of streets, houses, stores, elevated roads, buildings, stations, iron, poles and wires, trains, cafes, directions, towers, temples, Buddhist and Shinto, ice cream and slushies, that maybe have a soul, too, maybe not, small gardens, small spaces for small cars, parked under the house or housed under the house, next to the vending machines, the 24-hour pay parking lots, the steep stairs, the precious space, maybe even more precious, maybe the point is taking a breath, and bows and smiles and occasional where-are-you-from smiles that open others, of smiles, when you say Italy, and they say Venice, Cremona, Naple, then they take a while and remember Rome.