Cross-country skiing and the poetry of Charles Baudelaire: The cross-country skiing in Cockaponsett State Forest this afternoon was magnificent. Quite a few deer, rabbits, and squirrels. The setting sunlight on blue-white snow was magical, miraculously so. The ice fishermen were out on the Pattaconk Reservoir down in Chester/Killingworth, but I didnt see any dog sledders today. The dog sledders generally congregate on Filley Road, just on the road down to the northeast end of the reservoir. The snowmobilers had nicely compressed the snow in the back country trails, so I was able to glide easily through the packed powder. Charles Baudelaire wrote his famous collection of poems, Fleurs du mal / Flowers of Evil in 1857. In one of them, Linvitation au voyage/Invitation to the Voyage, he composed these beautiful lines, first in French, then English, which convey the feeling I had as I glided through the back country of the forest this afternoon on my skis: Là, tout nest quordre et beauté, Luxe, calme et volupté. There all is order and beauty, Luxury, peace, and pleasure. Ive always loved this poem, and have committed some of it to memory. I first read the poem on a summer trip to France in 1966, just before my senior year at Northeast High School in Philadelphia. The sound of the poem in French always transports me to wonderful places in my imagination. One such place now is Cockaponsett State Forest in Haddam/Chester, CT.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 23:07:59 +0000
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