SAPLING #66 — The magician // SAPLING #67 — The promise of light
Two times London // two times art // two mediations on time and space
Sapling #66 — The magician
They call it the great disappearing act, but he knows better.
There is no art in merging with the city, blending into the décor of throbbing masses, stately streets, motionless monuments. All that is needed, is a mediocre talent for camouflage and the longing to lose oneself. Before you know it, you are no longer noticed.
He who goes unobserved, is the better observer.
The veils of time are thin. He looks at them passing, one by one, on their way to something they believe matters. Glass walls or prison bars, intermediate station or final destination, they will always imagine themselves at home somewhere.
He isn’t going anywhere. This, here, is his territory, the frame he has cut out for himself. Boats will float past, the darkest clouds will inevitably win the contest with the towers on which of both can reach higher. The world around him is fleeting, but he remains unchanged.
Magicians have style, we have known that for ages. Witches have been burned for less, but of course they were women.
Evening descends. Approvingly, he looks on as the city erects itself, stone by stone, like the stronghold that he is.
Sapling #67 — Promise of light
I used to fear it
but I have since learned
the dark has ever a door
perhaps no more
than a gleam, a promise
of gilded dreams beyond reach
yet movement seems to be the rule
even a womb will push
and spew its children forth
we hasten towards the exit
according to some that is
where life begins
I wave off the precious phantoms
in the dark is where I’ll be
with its promise of light
The SAPLING series is a joint project with artist and illustrator Jurgen Walschot.
Saplings are creative sprouts. I will write to the images, he will draw to the words.
