Free The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico by Antonio Tabucchi Page B

this beautful city offers the eager candidate a range of jumps unrivalled by any other European city. But the spot which lends itself more than any other to the leap is without a doubt the Cristo Rei on the banksof the Tagus. Undeniably this Christ is an invitation writ in stone, a sculptor’s hymn in praise of the leap, a suggestion, a symbol, perhaps an allegory. This Christ offers us the very image of the plongeur , his arms outspread on a springboard from which he is ready to hurl himself. He’s not an impostor, he’s a companion, and that brings a certain comfort. Beneath flows the Tagus. Slow, calm, powerful. Ready to welcome the body of the volunteer and carry him down to the Atlantic, thus rendering superfluous even the most solicitous attentions of Lisbon’s undertakers.
    For brevity’s sake I shall say nothing of other forms of suicide. But before I sign off, one at least, out of a sense of some duty to a whole culture, I must mention. It is an unusual and subtle form, it takes training, constancy, determination. It is death by Saudade , originally a category of the spirit, but also an attitude that you can learn if you really want to. The Lisbon city council has always made public benches available in appointed sites in the city: the quays by the harbour, the belvederes, the gardens which look out over the sea. Lots of people sit on them.They sit silently, looking into the distance. What are they doing? They are practising Saudade. Try imitating them. Of course it’s a difficult road to take, the effects are not immediate, sometimes you may have to be willing to wait many years. But death, as we all know, is that too.

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