Written kisses don't reach their destination, . . .

"Written kisses don't reach their destination, rather they are drunk on the way by the ghosts. It is on this ample nourishment that they multiply so enormously. Humanity senses this and fights against it and in order to eliminate as far as possible the ghostly element between people and to create natural communication, the peace of souls, it has invented the railway, the motor car, the aeroplane. But it's no longer any help, these are evidently inventions being made at the moment of crashing. The opposing side is so much calmer and stronger; after the postal service it has invented the telegraph, the telephone, the wireless. The spirits won't starve, but we will perish."

. . . Franz Kafka to Milena Jesenska . . .

*Comment: Half of me hates this twisted idea -- that "les bises" and "los besos" that I send in letters and emails are cocktails for the netherworld. I didn't want to write this quote down at first, because I didn't want its pessimism to damper the sentiments of affection I send to loved ones abroad. But I gave in. There is another half of me -- the spirit half? -- that cannot resist Kafka's thoughts; they are dark and delicious. Part of me loves imagining the existence of this spirit world and its presence in between our lines of communication. Echoes, after-images, ink smudges . . . are these traces left by the breakings and enterings of love-hungry ghosts?