Memento

Poem by Charles Cros Collection The Sandalwood CasketPeriod 19th century

To Michel Eudes

Beings who stamp and fret, in love with what is useful,
Spend fleeting time on combinations
Of bearer shares, of canals, of trading
Houses, where their senses dim or mutilate themselves.

Others here below have just as futile a goal,
Making paintings, verses, prayers,
So that their name, for a few seasons,
May glitter near the names of winning horses at the turf.

You have taken life otherwise. You think
That ceaseless, illusory agitation
Is not the work of god, but the role of an infusorian.

In laughing in the full sun, believe well spent
The lugubrious moments of a provisional world,
And do not make yourself ugly like sensible people.

Charles Cros

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