“As I will soon be gone,

let me take one last memory

of this world with me –

may I see you once more,

may I see you now?

Izumi Shikibu (Japan, cc. 976 – 1032 a.C.)

I return to the web posting on International Museum Day and open this article with the Japanese poet Izumi Shikibu.

Although written over a thousand years ago, it reflects much of the feelings and anguish we face in the present time. I chose this beautiful text, in addition to the poetic force, because I met it in a museum.

This poem is part of an anthology that integrates the set “one hundred poets, one poem each”, which makes up the collection of the Saga Arashiyama Museum of Art and Culture. This incredible museum is located in the city of Kyoto, Japan, and I had the opportunity to visit it in 2019 when I participated in the General Assembly of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). The poems were engraved on stones, are displayed in the garden and are also presented on a large internal panel.

The Museum also has a large hall on the top floor, decorated with beautiful panels painted on paper presenting the landscape and the local nature. A poetry meeting is held annually, with the participation of artists from all over the country. A museum whose collection is poems, in a beautiful and at the same time fragile building, with its timbers and mats, speaks of art as the true power that celebrates life. And this same art, this knowledge, transmits a feeling of peace, serenity and strength, a solidity that supports and opens the mind to inspiration. In the museum, due to the conservation of the floors, there were rules for circulation and use of special shoes. Now we will all have to adopt procedures and new ways to expose and interact with the public, as well as internal work routines.

Countries in Asia and Europe are slowly resuming their daily lives, trying to rediscover a possible joy amid masks and gel alcohol.

Brazil started these conversations, trying to envision a return to something that we can call routine and treat as normal. It is a time of great sensitivity, listening, tolerance and dialogue.

There is no way to be light in a situation that causes us concern with professional directions, afflicts us in the corners of the home and touches the pain that circulates without any frontier around the world.

But it is possible, as the strength of poetry shows, to have affection, delicacy and wisdom in order to find solutions that will get us through this low light moment.

We will have to discuss financing lines for museums, how to recompose functional tables, how to support and consolidate museums in the most diverse spheres across the country. We have to do this together, talking, facing differences, sowing understanding between people.

I conclude with hope, but also with a lot of respect for all those who in this foggy moment suffer, wishing they can find comfort.

Persevering that today is better than yesterday and tomorrow it will be even better, that we can together, now, build a wonderful present.

Note.: images taken by the author.