16th july 2007 - going downstream/ bulgaria

"those who knew to seize life properly,
who never lost the half of it
in dream, in fever, in conversation with fools
in agony of love, in empty dissipation of time"

"for each still hopes that fortune will smile upon him,
but bearing fortune when it really comes,
is not for anybody, that would be for god alone"

august graf platen

i got up at 6am and welcomed the rising sun with a cup of tea on the roof. i've now retired to the stern, where there is a little invisible niche on the port side that offers me protection. river kilometre 750 passes. i have been on the ship for 4 weeks and we have covered about 2500km. the danube is broad and powerful here. noble and without coercion it flows eastwards to its southernmost point, from where it is then another 600km northeast to the black sea.

i have now been sitting on my little balcony for more than 3 hours, watching, pondering, feeling, reading, writing - totally alone. saying prayers into the river, i distance myself kilometre by kilometre from the world and everything that means something to me.
the danube has feminine contours, a female soul. its tides are unfathomable, flowing often more felt than seen beneath the glass-smooth surface that reflects every thought, every image, every feeling, yes even the observer himself. a forgotten world bordered by uprooted trees that tell stories.

standstill - like at the end of a pendulum swing, until the next movement begins, the next tide, the next flood, the next love, the next passionate deluge. which newly uprooted trees along the bank will witness.

time and again there are islands which won't exist in a year's time, except perhaps elsewhere. sand beaches stretching for kilometres, little dune landscapes...; as evening comes we drop anchor and take the little boat off to just such a forgotten spot to swim a little. the water is warm, but not very inviting. it is cloudy and seems dirty, but that does not detract from the joy of being wet. as the sun sets it bathes the opposite bank in red gold. our captain, peter, prepares a fish soup in a cauldron set on a tripod over an open fire. it tastes delicious. above us the starry sky: a sensation of light, the milky way, jupiter and two moons, stars all the way down to the horizon.