Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Exotic Perfume

When, with both eyes closed, on a hot Autumn evening,
I breathe the scent of your warm breasts,
I see unfurled before me happy shores
Dazzled by the fires of a changeless sun;An indolent island upon which nature bestows
Curious trees and savory fruits;
Men whose bodies are thin and vigorous,
And women whose eyes are astonishingly frank.

Guided by your scent toward charming climes,
I see a port filled with sails and masts
Still fatigued by the swell of the ocean,While the perfume of green tamarind trees,
Which permeates the air and swells my nostrils,
Blends in my soul with the song of the sailors.

-Baudelaire, translation by Cat Nilan © 1999, 2004

No reason. No reason at all.

I just fell in love with my bride again, and it's starting on to spring, and the golden evening light fills with the sound of my children playing.

3 comments:

Lisa said...

Nice to fall in love again and again. I don't see why that isn't possible. We each have unfathomable depths, I think, and each revelation is a benediction when on listens from a stance of reverence.

I like to listen and understand, and consider that the highest gift another can give -- self-revelation -- because is is not easily given (nor won, for that matter.)

FDChief said...

And I hope that you can and will find that one that gives to you - and takes in return - that gift, because...

"Your gaze seems to be covered over by a mist;
Your mysterious eyes (are they blue, green, or grey?)
Alternately tender, dreamy, cruel,
Reflect indolence and the paleness of the sky.

You call to mind those white days, tepid and overcast,
That cause bewitched hearts to melt into tears
When, agitated and twisted by an unknown illness,
Too wakeful nerves jeer at the sleeping spirit.

Sometimes you resemble those beautiful horizons
Illuminated by the suns of hazy seasons ...
How you sparkle, dewy countryside
Set ablaze by beams falling from a troubled sky!

Oh dangerous woman, oh seductive climates!
Will I also adore your snow and your frost,
And will I know how to draw from implacable winter
Pleasures sharper than iron and ice?"

Votre domestique ravissant, ma demoiselle...

Lisa said...

I am to bed now with a happy smile for your kind wishes (thank you for sharing the Baudelaire, anamchara.)

J'adore votre passion