BEN OKRI
Musings for The Magic Lamp exhibition at The Royal Overseas League, London
Wednesday 13 March 2019
1) Those who travel never arrive
2) Those who arrive have never travelled
3) The train departs, the continent sets sail, our luggage remains behind
4) They return from far places like dreamers lumbered with dust
5) Come, said the traveller, I have travelled the world in a teacup
6) Into the hotel they pile their forgotten journeys
7) The luggage travels, the traveller remains at home
8) In every traveller there are two people: one sets sail, the other never leaves home.
9) The solitude of boots in a harbour
10) Our suitcases have lived more than we have
11) To see the whole world in the pillow’s dream
12) A child encompasses the globe; the adult is baffled by a teaspoon
13) The globe spins in the cosmos; we spin around a few false ideas
14) Travellers of the world, welcome to your last destination
15) Only those who arrive perish
16) The greatest journeys are in the armchair of the mind
17) Many travel with their bodies, but their minds remain at home
18) Body and spirit rarely travel together
19) With wonder the world is woven; But our eyes see only the dusty rooftops
20) On the plains of Serengeti, a leaf wakes up a universe
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