I first eyed this poem back in college, when I was tickled by the French Symbolists and I was brimming with idealism--ethical idealism: the Good Life, how life should be lived, and still forming the ethos by which I would live the rest of my days. I scrawled it across the back of my desk chair with Wite-Out. I liked it a lot. I guess to me it meant, Do the things you love, and love the things you do. Do them well. Push yourself further.
Charles Baudelaire wrote it. And I suppose I've generally held a disposition in congruence with that mantra. "Blow as deep you want to blow," wrote Kerouac. I like that one too.
I'm new to the blogosphere, so I suppose this is as good place to start as any:
| Enivrez-Vous Il faut être toujours ivre. Tout est là; c'est l'unique question. Pour ne pas sentir l'horrible fardeau du Temps qui brise vos épaules et vous penche vers la terre, il faut vous enivrer sans trêve. Mais de quoi? De vin, de poésie, ou de vertu, á votre guise. Mais enivrez-vous. Et si quelquefois, sur les marches d'un palais, sur l'herbe verte d'un fossé, dans la solitude morne de votre chambre, vous vous réveillez, l'ivresse déjà diminuee ou disparue, demandez au vent, á la vague, á l'étoile, á l'oiseau, á l'horloge, á tout ce qui fuit, á tout ce qui gémit, á tout ce qui roule, á tout ce qui chante, á tout ce qui parle, demendez quelle heure il est, et le vent, la vague, l'étoile, l'oiseau, l'horloge, vous répondront: "Il est l'heure de s'enivrer! Pour n'être pas les esclaves martyrisées du Temps, enivrez-vous; enivrez-vous sans cesse! De vin, de poésie, ou de vertu, á votre guise." | Be Drunk Be drunk, always. Nothing else matters; this is our sole concern. To ease the pain as Time's dread burden weighs down upon your shoulders and crushes you to earth, you must be drunk without respite. Drunk with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you please. But be drunk. And if sometimes, on the steps of palaces, on the green grass in a ditch, in the dreary solitude of your room, you should wake and find your drunkenness half over or fully gone, ask of wind or wave, of star or bird or clock, ask of all that flies, of all that sighs, moves, sings, or speaks, ask them what time it is; and wind, wave, star, bird, or clock will answer: "It is time to be drunk! To throw off the chains and martyrdom of time, be drunk; be drunk eternally! With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you please." |
Translation on the right is by William M. Davis
That all said, I feel the need to write and record, set myself to the task of documenting life as I know it.
Why a blog, why public with this? Well, I've thought about this for some time. What's the point of a personal blog, anyway? Well, at the very least it keeps me going. If I have something to maintain, other than a personal journal, perhaps it will keep me focused and punctual, like college courses did. Plus, it's always fun to share, even if it is with strangers--real or imaginary. There's a certain satisfaction that comes with making your thoughts and experiences public. Plus, blogging offers a pretty nice platform for digitally organizing said thoughts and experiences. So what the hell, right?
Onward!
Update (9-9-08)
This helps:
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