THE TAXI
The glow of lamps only gently illuminated the city and its darkened streets. I have been sitting in a dark and strangely silent taxi for some time, its lights cutting through the pitch-black darkness as if to scare it away. Outside the windows, the world goes through. My silent companion passes the streets and the houses as if perhaps it will never stop again. A little while ago, we passed the now lonely park, leaving it in the distance behind us. It seemed deserted and sad. Only the statues watched it all. Staring at one place, for centuries. Now in the gentle rain, they almost look like they’re crying.
I don’t even know how I got there, where I’m going or why. When did I get on? It all doesn’t seem to matter. At least not to me and not at the moment. I just want to let them go with me. A guest in the cosy and warm embrace of my four-legged host. Just my own thoughts drumming in my head, just like the raindrops drumming on the rusty sill of that window over there.
So together, we navigate the roads of the city. It’s a dark and quiet night outside the windows and all the city’s world that surrounds us. We pass trees, houses, parks and statues. A cat hides on a street corner, cleaning his perfect coat. And on that bench over there, two lovers snuggle together.
Not that we’re going fast, really I was not following. I don’t know my driver or where he’s taking me. I just know that I’ve forgotten to take in your world surrounding mine. We stop now and then, but only for a few seconds. What is it in the endless web of time? The lights of the street penetrate in thin beams to me. It’s as if they’re trying to tickle me and make me breathe and feel again. It’s as if they’re telling me to wake up and look. But what am I supposed to look at, what are they trying to tell me? I search with my eyes for the passing buildings.
Myself and my silent companion talk about all the new experiences our day has thrown at us and a few necessary lessons for life. The good and the bad, what does it matter anymore? Nothing’s older than today when it’s replaced by night. And with the morning, it dies too. Let’s drive on through the dark night.
When do we stop, when do we begin to long to know ourselves? What are we chasing after? In our pursuit of what tomorrow will bring, we forget to live today, and then what happens when we lose it in the morning? Do we even notice? And then, we lose another and another and another, for in the morning there will be a new one. So nothing is stopping us from throwing away today’s day. And then what if we don’t have a single one left? What happens when we find out that today’s is the last one? And will we even make it happen? Will we notice, or will we just let it disappear into the web of time?
(29.01.2025)
