Despite my high-minded veneer
the motto of my life could be
Luxe, calme et volupté -
part of a refrain in a celebrated poem by Baudelaire
(set to music by Duparc) :
L'Invitation au Voyage :
Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.
There [in the the desire-dream-world] there is only order, beauty,
luxury, tranquillity and sensuality.
It is also the title of a "divisionist" Matisse painting of 1904
which looks far too crowded and heterosexual for me -
a sort of Seuratesque hybrid between Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe
and Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
(via Cézanne's Les Grandes Baigneuses),
But I digress.
Provided that one is not tinged with vulgarity
or sleazy erotic desire,
Luxe, calme et volupté
is a triple state to which one can nobly - and even honestly - aspire.
1 comment:
Ah, the magic of Beaudelaire, quoted by an Epicurean Zen poet, whose authentic life far surpasses that of the addled, tortured, drug-addicted 19th century musician of the French language! And the poetry of you two? The florid lush symphony of sound versus the crystalline stark beauty of the Japanese wabi/sabi? Sound versus sight? You cannot compare apples and oranges. In any case, you come out favorably in the comparison, Auban, even though Beaudelaire is my absolute favorite French poet.
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