Nothing ahead…
– Ever since that time
l i f e
has invaded
the Poor
Room of my Imagination.
And has begun its rule there.
A though it wanted to
avenge my
audacity
in making use
of its offal
and its beggarly garbage
and not its majestic
grandeur.
It shaped my
defeats and failures.
In despair I sought shelter
in the corners
of my Poor
Room.
NOTHING AHEAD!
I shouted.
I cursed
the I M A G E to which
I had entrusted myself.
I made a crazy decision
to walk out of it.
For good.
It wasn’t an escape
but rather a proud
withdrawal from
a privileged
seat.
An admission of defeat.
I was attracted by
the role of a clown.
So it has always been in
my theatre,
that Fairground Shed.
The show is
over.
Everybody has left.
And at the entrance
you can see Old Pierrot
with tears smeared
over his face;
He is waiting for his
Colombine,
who is long gone
to her poor hotel.
NOTHING AHEAD!
properly this
T H E A T R E O F L I F E:
the epilogue,
the last image:
“I WILL REMAIN
IN IT”.
The image has to win
above all.
Tadeusz Kantor, “Intimate Comments”, 1986-88, typescript in the Cricoteka Archives, p. 42-43.