clair de lune

[methrowrock]

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Just when I thought I couldn't love "Clair de Lune" even more, I stumbled upon this version. The beginning sears me every time. The hesitance, the yearning, the trembling that skims along skeletons of air. A thousand promises tucked in a breath, held until it bursts forth in a cascade. It flows away gently and dances upon starlight. It hovers, and it skitters, then it meanders, until it gets drawn out in a plaintive cry. Over and over, it sings to the skies, wringing its hands, bathing them in moonbeams and watching how silver stains its skin. And then, realizing the grotesqueness of its form and the stridency of its pitch, it mellows. It quivers, ashamed at its own audacity. Curling up at the tips, it retreats into a cocoon. But still... Still, the strains of its futile love linger like tree whispers. Low and stirring, patient but resigned, it withdraws. Slowly, slowly, softer and softer, until it asphyxiates.


Clair de Lune
Paul Verlaine, translated by Norman Shapiro

Your soul is like a landscape fantasy,
Where masks and Bergamasks, in charming wise,
Strum lutes and dance, just a bit sad to be
Hidden beneath their fanciful disguise.

Singing in minor mode of life's largesse
And all-victorious love, they yet seem quite
Reluctant to believe their happiness,
And their song mingles with the pale moonlight,

The calm, pale moonlight, whose sad beauty, beaming,
Sets the birds softly dreaming in the trees,
And makes the marbled fountains, gushing, streaming--
Slender jet-fountains--sob their ecstasies.

Oh, the romance. Makes one snort at the stress surrounding everybody these days. Surely, we must not forget the beauty, the whimsicality. I was messaging THIX earlier today, and we were grousing about the nature of the local education system. Probably the same old yammerings that people rehash during these irksome times, but it doesn't make them less true. What is the value of cramming facts in three days, or setting a time limit on thought processes? And the fixation with grades. Oh love, it should not matter if I fare terribly, because that does not mean I am incapable. I know I am not (on good days), and that should be enough. Should. Haha, but we conform to the system anyway. It is irrational not to, since we would be the ones losing out if we don't. Everything is couched in rationality; we can't argue with that. We don't want to, or we don't know how to, or we are not brave enough to. These values are what's important to us now; they've grown into something we desire and strive to achieve. Thus, we join the system, for we cannot beat it. How defeatist, bah. What about agency, right!? But we are so used to maneuvering within limitations, that it is hard to fathom the possibilities. It would require determination and actual action, and hahaha, guess I'm incompetent after all. Be sensible, go study! Okay okay okay.