Adelma

 

Do the deceased visit those on their deathbeds to greet them?  Perhaps explorer, Marco Polo was on the verge of dying once he arrived at the unhappy city of Adelma, one of the cities in Italo Calvino’s book titled Invisible Cities.  I am not sure I believe the story, but he has envisioned seeing a few familiar faces throughout his travels.

Marco Polo was very responsible and accurate with his descriptions, but was this trip a figment of his imagination?  Perhaps the long venture was exhausting and made him delusional.  Or does he enjoy entertaining his boss with stories of sightings of the dead within this imaginary city? 

He has reported seeing a sailor who resembled a dead soldier he once knew.  He recognized a fisherman he knew as a child who could no longer be among the living.  Maybe his report of seeing a fever victim resembling his father a few days before his death with yellow eyes and a beard along with the vegetable vendor who killed herself resembling his grandmother are common experiences that remain beyond our ability to explain.

It is one of those things that seem too good to be true.  Visions are like dreams.  And God speaks through different kinds of visions.  Maybe Adelma really was an invisible city and Marco’s visions appeared as vivid and lucid as any ordinary day.  It must be difficult to visit a place where unhappiness exists.  Apparently, close to the moment of death, apparitions of deceased friends and loved ones appear to escort the dying to the other side. I think Marco used this experience to report and process the grief he felt  was beyond.