Wednesday 22 September 2021

The funereal thud

Autumn Song (Chant d'automne)
Charles Baudelaire 1857

Soon we shall plunge into cold shadows;
Farewell, vivid light of our too-short summers!
Already I hear the funereal thud
Of echoing logs on the courtyard floor.

I listen, trembling, to the fall of each log;
A gallows being built makes no duller sound.
My spirit is like the tower that falls
To the remorseless blows of the battering-ram.

Rocked by those monotone blows, it seems
Somewhere in haste they are nailing a coffin.
But whose? Yesterday summer; autumn now!
This eerie sound rings like some farewell.

It's the Autumn Equinox - so every night from now until March will be longer than the days...

Sigh.

10 comments:

  1. Are you kidding me? Following (another) summer of heat domes, record-breaking temperatures, not to mention torrents of water, you're melancholy? Right now I never want to see summer again.

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    1. I have no idea where you live Glendon, as you have no information in your profile, but it's obviously not the UK.

      2021 - "the year that Summer forgot". Jx

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  2. I shan't give in until the fall of the first snowflake. You can have the leaves and flowers, leave me my sun and warmth! Kizzes.

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    Replies
    1. Me too - it's been lovely and mild here for a few days, and we're hoping for an "Indian Summer" to make up for the grotty season we had this year. Jx

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  3. Deep joy. I'm going to buy lots of twinkling fairy lights and string them up everywhere, I think it'll help get me through it.
    Sx

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  4. "Yesterday summer; autumn now!"
    A lovely poem to mark the passing of a terrible Summer.

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    Replies
    1. Fingers crossed next year will make up for it... Jx

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  5. Autumn I can just about manage, but winter? No. I forbid it! Me and my be-tassled shawl are going to board our yacht and gaze at the stars during our Indian Summer until Spring arrives.

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