## On Translation > _I am a cage, in search of a bird._ > -From an Author who lived in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose given name and surname taken together mean "A Small Bird that is Free." --- > _I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself._ > -Author of _Beyond Form_, in a letter to Milena Jesenská. --- > _Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly._ > > -An author of (primarily) erotic vampire stories, writing the introduction to a book by an Author (caps for emphasis) who the above quote is more commonly attributed to, because let's be honest, quoting an author best known for vampire porn makes one feel a bit self-conscious, in one's soul, at least the socially conscious parts of it, and but so it's not surprising that the more common habit among those who quote the quote up there above is to bend it a bit, in accordance with the logical aim of making one's soul (the quoter's I mean) seem more dark, serious, sexy, violently passionate, like a beast of the night, veiled by darkness that can only be turned to light by you the Reader, by a love consummated by blood, in other words erotic like a vampire, but I digress. --- > _All language is but a poor translation._ > -Jackdaw[^1] Freeman[^2] (apocryphal). [^1]: From Czech German Kavka (jackdaw), from either Upper Sorbian or Lower Sorbian, which are ultimately from the Proto-Slavic \*kavъka, a term referring to a a small bird that typically nests in tall buildings and chimneys, noted for its inquisitiveness. [^2]: From Germanic roots, derived from the Latin name Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman" or "free man," the German equivalent of Francis and is deeply rooted in Germanic cultures, referring to the Frankish people. O.T. has Franz.