"Infancy is what is eternal, and the rest, all the rest, is brevity, extreme brevity"

Antonio Porchia’s observation that “Infancy is what is eternal, and the rest, all the rest, is brevity, extreme brevity” suggests a profound meditation on the nature of existence and the passage of time. Infancy, in this context, extends beyond literal childhood and gestures toward a primal state of being, a time of pure potential, unmarked by the limitations, complications, and definitions that adulthood accrues. For Porchia, infancy is not simply a period at the beginning of life, but a kind of origin point, a wellspring of authenticity, clarity, and unfiltered experience that underlies everything that comes after.

As life unfolds and we accumulate knowledge, responsibilities, and memories, the immediacy and purity of infancy recede into the background. Moments pile up, years pass, but all subsequent experiences occupy less metaphysical weight compared to the eternity of our beginnings. The adult years, what Porchia calls “the rest”, race by. They are characterized by their transience and are ultimately ephemeral, slipping through one’s grasp even as we try to hold onto them. In contrast, our earliest origins linger outside ordinary measures of time and change, becoming a kind of everlasting foundation.

This perspective suggests that there is a timeless element within each person, an untouched, unspoiled core that survives as a silent witness to the brevity of our remaining days. It evokes the idea that the essential self is always rooted in this primordial state, and all other identities, aspirations, and dramas unfold rapidly and then fade. The insight can be both melancholy and liberating: the fleeting nature of adulthood and maturity reminds us of the value of our earliest, most genuine experiences, calling us to remember, perhaps even reclaim, that sense of eternity we once naturally inhabited. Porchia turns the typical narrative upside down; rather than seeing infancy as fleeting and adulthood as expansive, he exposes the ultimate brevity of all that comes after.