Walking in between
"While nature indifferently absorbs our lives,
strivings and deaths, existence goes on”
I start out
And search for the calm solitude
In which the space expands
Vast and wide.
I have no plan,
Just start,
And paths open up before me.
I am in no hurry,
Slowly I walk o’er wide, freshly threshed fields,
Feel the stubbles break beneath my feet,
Hear the birdcall resonating,
The vastness of open land.
I hold on and behold that width and interconnectedness,
Form and colour blending into a rhythm,
And before I move on,
I try to trace these soft tones with quill and brush.
Time after time I have encounters on my way,
The hawks and herons delight me in particular.
People I meet rarely out here.
It isn’t bothering me,
Even as a child I used to enjoy it,
Being on my own in the wilderness.
It gives me room to reflect,
And as soon as the pressure in my head ceases,
Images and figures,
Dreams and memories arise,
Accompanying me on the journey.
As initiation I walked over fields,
Now I walk deeper into the country.
I come into the dull regions of this land.
Shades of glass and plastic scrunch
As I wander over ashen ground
Under red sky
Through an ailing world.
The freshness of the morning is gone
And the air becomes hotter and tighter.
The heat weighs heavily upon me
And my mind gets blurry.
I think black red and green
Think Où va le monde?
Where is the world going?
The shadows become darker,
Contrasts intensify.
Black ink devours my sheet
Until hardly any light spots remain.
"While nature indifferently absorbs our lives,
strivings and deaths, existence goes on”
A quick and clear stream crosses my path
And brings me back.
The water clears my sight,
I rest
And my spirits return.
I gather, strengthen, prepare myself,
Surrender to the adventure.
I look up
And the light is blazing;
I watch the kaleidoscope above,
The play of constant destruction and renewal,
Watch this ageless process of death and rebirth,
Which takes place above me, around me and inside me,
See beauty and the sublime,
In the various compositions
Made of space and time.
"While nature indifferently absorbs our lives,
strivings and deaths, existence goes on”
I stay besides the river
Until darkness lays itself softly upon the water.
At one time or another,
I take my leave again,
Walk without haste I walk through the night.
Which is now still and clear.
For a long while I hear behind me,
The sound of the quick running river,
Flowing over many stones.
