”Have some coffee, man, a mean cup of coffee” - this is what I say to spur myself on – “sip it hot, damn hot with a slice of lemon, bitter and so hot it scalds your throat, so that it hurts” – test your knife in the morning, everyone ought to test their knives in the morning - there is no other way to the lemon’s heart. A nice knife is sharp, a sharp knife is nice, you need to know how to wield a knife so that it hurts – what stays in mind is always the cut, open wounds and horizons, being scared of the dark, or the acute fear of being alone – but I sit and write and let no one near me, for I was everywhere with everyone and then returned to my own country, city, street, to my room and in its corner, cowering in anger in the lamplight to write, I write… Janis Elsbergs, translated by Peteris Cedrins