Back from the road – France

Back from the road

I am back again, after spending time away in France.

The Loire, with all its magnificent châteaux, left me breathless.

There I sat, on a sun-drenched terrace, sipping from a glass of dry white wine.

I followed in the footsteps of Marcel Proust, first in Illiers-Combray and then in the enchanting seaside town of Cabourg.

And then there was that encounter with the legacy of Leonardo da Vinci in the spellbinding Amboise.

It was one of the happiest moments I could imagine—and I say this without even counting the enchantment of opera or the deep satisfaction of a good book.

My holiday, my August, inspired me to write the following poem…

What Is Happiness?

To raise the glass in a splendid setting
A château at our backs, a park unfurling
A sparkle mirrors the carafe
In bulbous form of all-seeing eye.

The workings of centuries that in layers
From chiseled ages have welled up
Like breaking waves that ride over one another
Washing upon the thirsty gravel of the now

Behind us the remnants of dreams
And prospects that themselves have vanished
Whose traces now worn into stone
Though weathered still stand carved

Before us straight lines are drawn through the green
The avenues where once nobility was seen
There are birds in attendance. Children and bicycles
The power of memory in chilled glasses,

After so many cathedrals, cheeses and châteaux
The dry Loire wine is crisp, frivolous and fruity.

Dirk of Babylon

DVB

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