At Night
author: Franz Kafka
deeply lost in the night. just as one sometimes lowers one's head to
reflect, thus to be utterly lost in the night. all around people are
asleep. it's just play acting, and innocent self-deception, that they
sleep in houses, in safe beds, under a safe roof, stretched out or curled
up on mattresses, in sheets, under blankets; in reality they have flocked
together as they had once upon a time and again later in a deserted
region, a camp in the open, a countless number of men, an army, a people,
under a cold sky on cold earth, collapsed where once they had stood,
forehead pressed on the arm, face to the ground, breathing quietly. and
you are watching, are one of the watchmen, you find the next one by
brandishing a burning stick from the brushwood pile beside you. why are
you watching? someone must watch, it is said. someone must be there.~
maintained by: Verdugo