Kevin's Watch

Lately I seem to be rereading many things I have not read in decades.

The latest reread is Antoine de Saint Exupery's The Little Prince. It's a tiny little book, just a bit over 100 pages; but it is lovely and profound.

It is a fable about a man whose plane goes down in the Sahara a thousand miles from anywhere, and the very special person he meets there.

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential in invisible to the eye.

Incidentally, I once tracked down another of the author's books, Wind, Sand, and Stars, and while not a fable (it was autobiographical), it was also magically well written...the story of an airman and the desert...prose as lovely as any poetry. This author found beauty in everything and everyone; an extraordinary writer and soul who was lost to us in WW2.

I was given this book seven years ago and thought it was wonderful.

I've read (or been read) The Little Prince in English, French and Polish, and it always seems to grow with the reading. Might be because I was growing, too. It's been a few years since I read it last, and I think I'll pick it up again when I get the chance.

Every time I hear the song "Spanish Harlem" (There is a rose in Spanish Harlem, a red rose up in Spanish Harlem...), I think of the prince's rose.

Night Flight is another good book of Saint-Exupery's, and probably his most famous after The Little Prince . Have yet to read that one, though there's a copy of it on one of my bookshelves.

St.-Ex. was a pilot, so most if not all his books were inspired by his experiences flying, especially flying in the desert. Here's an interesting mini-bio about him: www.kirjasto.sci.fi/exupery.htm

Night Flight is an awesome book about the Lisbon to Rio mail route!