Jan Saudek (Czech art photographer)
Life is a journey – a journey to the end of night …In the beginning are dreams.
The convictions that the world begin with us that everything is only here because of us. To exercise my memory, I‘ll recite one of the few poems I know by heart:
From a fiery sunlit rose, a petal fell on me, where did I dream that?
Beneath a thuja? Beneath a cypress tree?
Or did I pause between the cernetry gates?
Madness has descended upon me?
Be quiet! Let’s no one see, let no one hear!
I see what other’s don’t see; I hear what others don’t hear;
How things rush forth and seethe within.
Let me measure my life, only in inches.
To half is betrayal ! Do not choose, O soul ,do not choose to be late.
- only your memories will remain - ,1972
- The window -
So many times I stood before this window!
Birds flew across the sky beyond it, endlessly and God knows where;
A cloud, strongly reminiscent of whipped cream, drifted there;
The moon was full, and a moment later just a thin sickle;
An aeroplane hurried to it’s dream destination:
A window onto the world!
I was probably dreaming .No – I was definitely dreaming! My cellar window led to a dirty light well – for years .I looked at the damp, crumbling wall, and then once I had found freedom and climbed out of the cell, I saw everything I had imaged with a rapturous eye…
