 Ahhhh..... the green fairy. Muse of many artists, poets, creatives of the past. She dances with you, tickles your brain; intoxicating, she lets the world be seen anew once again....
In case you are wondering... the green fairy refers to Absinth. Switzerland can be considered as the birthplace of Absinthe. In the Valley Val de Travers in the Swiss Jura the original Pernod distillery was located, and after the prohibition of Absinth, many bootleggers stayed around there. Now, almost 100 years after the prohibition, Switzerland is relegalizing Absinth as of the beginning of 2005 (most of Europe already did so a few years ago). I was lucky to have a little early taste of a genuine La Bleue (bootlegged, homemade, delicious) that a friend brought back from Val de Travers. It was utterly delightful and indeed created interesting cognitive phenomena. Yet again goes to show what an amazing neurological machine we have in our skulls. And again goes to show that nature was kind in providing in its many forms fuel for the machine...
To what end, though? Drunkenness? Inebriation? What's the difference we wonder...
For a while now I have been tossing around the concept of inebriation.
My friends stosh was the first to point out Baudleaire's poem below called
"Get drunk!" (Enivrez-Vous). The original title of the poem, though, would be more
properly translated as "Inebriate yourself!". The poem is really not
about being drunk, or at least not in the sense of drunk from
consumption of alcohol. As you see, he states: "On wine, virtue,
poetry, whatever!"
As much as Mr. Baudelaire was open to experimenting with substances, I think he saw a higher quality in inebriation. More along the
lines of enthusiasm, of having the gods inside us and thus being filled
with joy, timeless masters of life. At least, I like to think so ;-)
I came up with my first Italian saying in my conversations with Jesus about the same subject:
"Sempre ebbro, ciucco mai!" - "Always inebriated, drunk never!"
They do have quite a few words for drunk in Italian, though, ... hmmmm... must be the good wine ;-)
Get Drunk!
Always be drunk.
That's it!
The great imperative!
In order not to feel
Time's horrid fardel
bruise your shoulders,
grinding you into the earth,
get drunk and stay that way.
On what?
On wine, virtue, poetry whatever.
But get drunk.
And if you sometimes happen to wake up
on the porches of a palace,
in the green grass of a ditch,
in the dismal loneliness
of your own room,
your drunkenness gone or disappearing,
ask the wind,
the wave,
the star,
the bird,
the clock,
ask everything that flees,
everything that groans
or rolls
or sings,
everything that speaks,
ask what time it is;
and the wind,
the wave,
the star,
the bird,
the clock
will answer you:
"Time to get drunk!
Don't be martyred slaves of Time,
Get drunk!
Stay drunk!
On wine, virtue, poetry, whatever!"
Charles Baudelaire |
