Still Life with apples, grapes, pears and peaches
by Paul Cézanne
Full round apple, peach, pear, blackberry.
Each speaks life and death
into the mouth. Look
at the face of a child eating them.
The tastes come from afar
and slowly grow nameless on the tongue.
Where there were words, discoveries flow,
released from within the fruit.
What we call apple—dare to say what it is,
this sweetness which first condensed itself
so that, in the tasting, it may burst forth
and be known in all its meanings
of sun and earth and here.
How immense, the act and the pleasure of it.
Sonnets to Orpheus I, 13
"the tastes come from afar
ReplyDeleteand slowly grow nameless on the tongue.
where there were words, discoveries flow"
as i read this, i was remembering a summer long ago. housesitting and discovering a cupboard filled with the most exotic pastes and jams and preserves and spices and herbs. nothing i'd ever tasted before. one day i went on a rampage of tasting. there were no words to describe what i tasted. there was no history for me. comparisons were empty. to this day the overwhelming fullness of aromas that emerged from opening that cupboard fills me when i remember! steven
So wonderful this is.
ReplyDelete