No Matter, Try Again

Glen Molloy’s Samuel Beckett mural in the Dundela area of east Belfast was largely whitewashed the day after it was finished – see the second image, below. (This was only a few weeks after the Maya Angelou mural across the street was painted and graffitied.) (Belfast Live) The portrait was restored last year, with blue sparkling blue eyes, and the quotation was added again this summer.

(The Angelou mural was partially repaired at the time, and support for Ukraine added this year – see We May Encounter Many Defeats.)

The quotation is from Worstward Ho! (not “Westword Ho!” as written on the wall): “Say for be said. Missaid. From now say for missaid. Say a body. Where none. No mind. Where none. That at least. A place. Where none. For the body. To be in. Move in. Out of. Back into. No. No out. No back. Only in. Stay in. On in. Still. All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”