Our history is an infinite mystery.
The past always asks us to imagine.
The study of history, seriously undertaken
Is the quest to remember another life.
When so few scattered records remain
The greatest tool we have at our disposal
Is the inspired imagination.
The true historian is an artist.
Artists come to shape history
Before and after it happens.
The cavern galleries of ochre, chalk, and charcoal
Display the historic role of artists.
Mankind has mined those primitive paintings
As if the walls were made of solid gold.
But what was put there must remain
Priceless, proudly in the past.
We would be so ignorant of our ancestors
If we had never painted a picture.
But some deep echo calls us to paint.
If no man had painted or sculpted stone,
What would we think of the first people?
They would be forever invisible.
The scraps of beauty that remain for us
Are like strong spirits poured upon
A small flame, briefly igniting
The meager modern memory.
These precious pieces of prayer,
Mysteries preserved in stone,
Make me wonder, and wonder again
If this is what they carved in bone,
what were they carving in wood?
If these are the leftovers of their lives,
What a feast it would have been fresh!
We find their bone flutes and stone drums,
But what treasures are waiting to be found?
They live today, singing their ancient songs.
Was there music, too, in those deep chambers?
I am not satisfied not knowing,
I simply must imagine.
Did they paint their faces with ashes?
We can only guess about their fashion.
Did they dance with the passion that we do?
Their bodies had the same bones as ours.
Did they sing and laugh together, too?
They must have practiced for hours.
What jokes they had, if we only knew!
What gods were there, with what powers?
And just think, for them it was all new.
Who decided to give the dead flowers?
Who made the first hat, or the first tattoo?
After we stopped walking on all fours,
How soon did we invent the shoe?
You can seek out scientists for answers,
But you can ask the artists, too.
If you want to hear the best stories
You have to stop asking for “true.”