The flight to London¹⁵

After the disciples saw me off at Kennedy Airport, I went to the British Airways lounge. Can you imagine? About forty people were standing because there were no seats left in the lounge.

Finally we entered into the plane. An orthodox Jewish man was sitting in the seat beside mine. He had a little cap and a long beard. His seat was on the aisle and mine was at the window. When I came and stood in front of him, he didn’t want to move or get up so that I could get to my seat. It was only with greatest difficulty that I was able to sit down.

After ten or fifteen minutes I thought, “Let me start writing poems.” But I could not find even one ballpoint. I had put six ballpoints into my bag, but at that time I could not find even one. I searched here and there. I said to myself, “How can I ask this man for a ballpoint? God doesn’t want me to write poems.” So I read for hours on the plane and I didn’t write even one poem.

Towards the end of the trip, the stewardess gave out immigration cards for us to fill out. I could have asked the stewardess for a ballpoint, but often it is so hard to get their attention that you lose all your inspiration. I said to myself, “At the airport I will fill it out!”