Back in the polder

Yesterday I was back in the polder, one that in the past has served as a shelter when life became too difficult for me. I used to roam around there. Feeling at home, away from everything, away from not being able to be myself. I was one with the fields, the water and the marshes where I knew how to keep safe. In spring I welcomed the birds and in autumn I watched them leave again. This is where I made my first works of art and became convinced that my mission was to show the world what beauty is.

Yesterday I was back, not for shelter this time but to show my youngest son around, especially to show him the origin of my artworks which may even be the origin of his artworks too. It is possible that the trail of karma continues in his life as well. His circumstances are very different from mine though at the same time they are exactly the same.

Yesterday I was back and noticed that nature is taking its course in many of the fields, yet everything seemed very much the same, the same layout and places, the same colours, same horizons, same

feeling. In the faces of the people we encountered I recognized their fathers and mothers and felt

acquainted with their lives. This time however I felt love for them.

Yesterday I was back, we found two dead things well into the process of decomposition. It was not fearful, in fact it seemed rather natural. I felt no urge to project sentiments, I saw transience in the

polder of my roots and I knew that it was alright. Life goes on, fathers and sons have children

themselves now. Everything changes but I observe from close by that everything stays the same as well.

Yesterday I was back and now I know that the comfort and the beauty that I found there was powerful enough to fill my whole life. Whenever I was lost in life this power brought me time and again back to the essentials. It is the power which, like a prophet, I have given to those who wished to receive it. It is the power which I call love. It is the power that passes on from father to son.