Sunday, March 7, 2010

Photo and Poem

[Photo by Big Frank Dickinson in Osaka train station]

Big Frank is going to stay with the trains for one more post. The above photo was taken in the Osaka train station, and these are the engines of the famous Japanese bullet trains or shinkansen. They are so beautiful and they can take you away quickly. Below, not exactly a poem, but a wonderful excerpt from Kafka on journeys.

My Destination
---- Franz Kafka

I gave orders for my horse to be brought round from the stable. The servant did not understand me. I myself went to the stable, saddled my horse and mounted. In the distance I heard a bugle call, I asked him what this meant. He knew nothing and had heard nothing. At the gate he stopped me, asking: "Where are you riding to, master?" "I don't know," I said, "only away from here, away from here. Always away from here, only by doing so can I reach my destination." "And so you know your destination?" he asked. "Yes, " I answered, "didn't I say so? Away-From-Here, that is my destination." "You have no provisions with you," he said. "I need none," I said, "the journey is so long that I must die of hunger if I don't get anything on the way. No provisions can save me. For it is fortunately, a truly immense journey."

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