Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l’automne
Blessent mon coeur
D’une langueur
Monotone.
Tout suffocant
Et blême, quand
Sonne l’heure,
Je me souviens
Des jours anciens
Et je pleure
Et je m’en vais
Au vent mauvais
Qui m’emporte
Deçà, delà,
Pareil à la
Feuille morte.
—Paul Verlaine
(a mostly Arthur Symons’, unsatisfactory translation:
The sobbing winds / Of violins /of autumn drone, / Wound my heart,/ Languors start / In monotone.
Pale as with pain,/ Breath fails me when/ The hours tolls deep./ My thoughts recover /The days that are over/ And I weep.
And I go/ Where the winds know,/ Broken and brief,/ To and fro, /As the winds blow/ A dead leaf.)
Schmaltzy, true, but appropriate for the season when I, at least, get a little maudlin.
Try as I might, I have a hard time thinking of the good things associated with the season. There are mushrooms, of course.
The flower offerings have diminished, and we resort to chrysanthemums
In fact the garden falls apart. Salvage the green tomatoes before they collapse with rot. (They’re very tasty roasted together with sliced sweet potatoes.) You may even still get a watery strawberry or two before the slugs do.
And, most decidedly, the weather changes.
C’est triste…mais c’est beau.
Autumn has always been my favourite season. The winds of change bring thoughts. After a working lifetime British Columbia orcharding,, I live in Québec again on a country road a flame with yellow, red and orange through much of October. Favourite colours and month. We’ve planted two Ginkos, not just for their fall colour. I like the shape of the leaves so much. Straight out of Matisse, as are oak leaves.
I you are a woman of depth and talent and energy. I happened on the right young woman somehow through those difficult four years.
I remain a francophile. My companion speaks a beautiful French and is so very patient with my struggles. I read a lot in French. Pierre Lemaitre currently; from la Grande Bibliothèque in downtown Montréal.
Diana, I’d like to know about Suzanne. The three of you of import in my life.
Tony Dawson
Hello there Tony! quite a surprise to find you on my site. Nice to hear from you. Thank you for your kind words. Suzanne is back again in Cambridge, MA, living alone after some difficult years in San Francisco. She’s OK. With our long lives, we all have been shaped by our many experiences. Interesting you did orcharding—it must have been a satisfying occupation, and meaningful too.
Thank you for your kind words, and I am so glad you seem well.