Well, last moments in the harbour. As usual, not everything is quite ready, not all land matters are dealt with in full, some were completed in a hurry, even abruptly, and others – suspended. I don’t have a complete set of maps, I’m not even sure of the details of the route. But I know the destination and the date I have to reach it by – in six months’ time. And that destination is quite distant. This will perhaps not be a cruise around the world, but I will surely sail across an ocean, or two. Through rather turbulent waters, windy and cold regions. I’m both scared and happy.

Namely, I’m facing another opera. A big one. Based on Orhan Pamuk’s ‘My Name is Red’. The author was completely uninterested in writing the libretto, but gives his blessings and offers consultations. Małgosia Sikorska-Miszczuk is in charge of the writing. Actually, I more get in the way of the writing, but this is all in best faith. If the libretto were to serve as the rigging in a sea expedition, then it is full of holes right now. But I have needles and thread, and a supply of canvas, as well as a hunch of what the optimum shape should be. I’d say I have the hull, masts and lines, but I don’t quite know yet what the vessel I command is, whether it is a barge or a barquentine. I will learn this in stage one, already on the water.

I visited Poznań for a short while, and the results of that trip will see the light of the day in a year. Nice meetings and conversations, big plans. But I’m already switching off, cutting myself off. I’m closing down.

I’m looking through old photographs. Things happened to be different. Faded deceptions. Horizon is clouded; next time will be from high seas.

(transl. Magdalena Małek-Andrzejowska)