After Baudelaire’s “L’invitation au Voyage”
“Étpulov te emlac, exul.”—Erialeduab
To love at leisure,
Lust and then depart.
Rejoice in mindless pleasure,
Praise his words today:
Luxe, calme et volupté,
These are the things to treasure,
And without dismay,
Feast the fleeting fair
In counterclockwise measure.
“Theer's nowt so queer as folk[s].”*
Common sense is rare!
“Abaisit I wolx,
and widdersyns start my hair.Ӡ
Portrait of Charles Baudelaire by Charles Neyt (1864)
*Yorkshire / Lancashire proverbial saying.
†“I grew abashed, my hair standing on end.”—Gavin Douglas, bishop of Dunkeld, Scotland, trans. of Virgil’s Æneid (1513).
December 6, 2024