A Patch of Sky

Pain, mild, moderate or severe, has a curious way of blotting out thoughts, actions, past or present; of displacing information, the essential, the researched, the trivial; of blurring recollections, the new, the aged; of fogging the brain; of revealing traits usually self-contained. It lets in however dark fears and vague surmises; reduces the body to a malfunctioning machine; and turns the outside into an even more scary and 'utterly alien place.' All that remains is a patch of sky framed by four windows.

Picture credit: Sky Study, c. 1869, Edgar Degas (source: WikiArt)

Quote from The Rings of Saturn (I) by W. G. Sebald.

From journal, September 2023.