The Return Of Many Happy Returns

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLIN'

Wynton Marsalis Septet: Happy Birthday

Once again
I have told you
so little,
and have asked
no questions,
and once again
I must close.
But not a single answer
and, even more certainly,
not a single question
shall be lost.
There exists
some kind of sorcery
by which two people,
without seeing each other,
without talking to each other,
can at least discover
the greater part
about each other’s past,
literally in a flash,
without having to

tell each other
all and everything;
but this, after all,
is almost an instrument
of Black Magic
(without seeming to be)
which, although
never without reward,
one would certainly
never resort to
with impunity.
Therefore I won’t say it,
unless you guess it first.
It is terribly short,
like all magic formulas.
Farewell, and let me
reinforce this greeting
by lingering over your hand.

Yours,
Franz K.

--Franz Kafka
Letters to Felice‎