Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Feuilles-oh, sauvez la vie moi

Did you know that there's an Art Garfunkel album called Angel Clare? Neither did I. It was released in 1973, on September 11 -- a date which we now associate with the idea of Two Towers -- and one of the tracks is in French (or Creole anyway) and emphasizes one particular French word I had been obsessing over just yesterday.


This track -- "Feuilles-Oh/Do Space Men Pass Dead Souls on Their Way to the Moon?" --  was going to be included on Bridge over Troubled Water, but that didn't end up happening, so Garfunkel did it on his own and put it on Angel Clare.

I had a day off yesterday, and I spent several hours trying to translate "Matin," a section in Arthur Rimbaud's A Season in Hell. The reason I wanted to translate it myself was that I found Louise Varèse's translation of feuilles as sheets unacceptable. Feuilles d'or means "leaves of gold," sorry. Not negotiable. Even though this is a prose section of A Season in Hell, I started translating it in verse:

Once I -- but only once -- was able
To make of life a living fable.
Heroic days of not-so-old!
A youth to write on leaves of gold!
Was none of it, then, mine to keep?
How did I fall? How fall asleep?

At this point, my Muse got distracted by the idea that I could make this simultaneously a "translation" of "Matin" and of the first canto of Dante's Comedy, and pursuing two hares, I caught neither.

Rimbaud imagines preserving his lost youth by writing it on leaves of gold. Garfunkel sings, in French, "Leaves-oh, save my life!" Both Rimbaud and Garfunkel go on to talk about being sick.

One verse of the Garfunkel song is in English:

Willie works as the garden man;
He plants trees, he burns leaves,
He makes money for himself.
Often I stop with his words on my mind.
Do spacemen pass dead souls on their way to the moon?

That's my own name, of course, and my sync-stream has for some months been entangled with that of another "Willie," William Wright.

Rimbaud has "leaves of gold," and Garfunkel has "he burns leaves." Both images are combined in "Humpty Dumpty revisited":

Observing as the leaves would turn
From green to gold, and some would burn
With orange or with scarlet hue,
And Humpty Dumpty saw that, too.


Update (10:00 p.m.): Immediately (less than 10 minutes) after posting this, I taught a small group of adult students. One was wearing a T-shirt that said "C'est la vie," with a wreath of leaves and flowers around the words. The title of this post includes la vie and the French word for "leaves." Even the word c'est has been something of a Claire calling card.

"Save my life" -- which I linked specifically to Rimbaud's wanting to preserve his childhood -- is also a link to Bookends ("Crescent waxing"), which opens, after a brief intro, with the track "Save the Life of My Child." This track also includes in the bridge two lines from "The Sound of Silence" -- the same two I quoted recently in "More on Joan and Claire."

6 comments:

William Wright (WW) said...

One implication is that it could be that whatever 'true story' of the Wandering Aengus Claire can teach is actually found on Leaves - as in a record contained on metal plates.

I was even thinking more on the "Bookmarks" album title from Five for Fighting. A mark can be something that holds a place or spot in a book, but it could also refer to the words (or engravings?) found in the book itself. As in, one would be said to mark a book by writing words and characters in it. Book marks.

If Claire is one of the Daughters (I know my guess, and not yours), then she would have a pretty direct tie to at least one set of records.

In Words of them that Slumbered, it is Asenath who dictated a "Bronze Book" (that Ki-Abroam/ Tom B. wrote down) that contained a significant amount of history (and prophecy). My guess is that this would have been at least source material for Moses' own Brass Plates (if not the very same plates, which might be likely).

It could be that Claire through her communication/ thoughts is implying that she has that record that can set a few things straight, or at least knows where it is and who does have it.

William Wright (WW) said...

Perhaps these "Leaves" are also in France along with the Stones.

Wm Jas Tychonievich said...

I just read in the Richard Cavendish book I bought on Joan’s Day about Etteilla’s theory that the Tarot originated in Egypt: “It had been written, he said, on leaves of gold in a temple three leagues from Memphis.” When I opened this post to add a comment mentioning this further “leaves of gold” sync, I found you had just commented about leaves of gold a few minutes previous.

Many of my dreams recently have involved a search for new “plates.”

William Wright (WW) said...

I just wrote a post blowing out some of my thinking since after I left the comment I wanted to see how it could work.

I am still struggling with Brass vs. Gold (i.e., if that matters based on some of your more specific 'gold' mentions). Brass has the appearance of Gold, but I don't know. You can see what seems to work or resonates with you. I do think there is something with Leaves = Plates, though.

When I have a chance, I will post a quick short post highlighting the only dream I had involving you in which I visibly saw "you". It involved a search for a Book, so might tie into your own dreams involving a search for plates.

Ra1119bee said...


William,

You wrote : Once I -- but only once -- was able
To make of life a living fable.
Heroic days of not-so-old!
A youth to write on leaves of gold!
Was none of it, then, mine to keep?
How did I fall? How fall asleep?
~~~~

My response : and yet more reference to FALLING, the harvest/autumn
the Golden color of the sun and yellow.

And speaking of yellow and Garfunkel's 'rubies and Ringo's rubies
, it occurred to me today that Ringo
(symbolic and archetype of Saturn)
only sung a few songs during The Beatles' years.
One of those songs was Yellow Submarine.

Of course a submarine is as far 'down' as it gets.

The lyrics of Yellow Submarine are interesting as well.
Especially this verse:
Full speed ahead Mr. Boatswain, full speed ahead!
Full speed ahead it is, Sgt.
****Cut the cable! Drop the cable!****
Aye, Sir, aye!
Captain, captain!
~~~~~~~~~~

From wiki :
"A boatswain (/ˈboʊsən/ BOH-sən, formerly and dialectally also /ˈboʊtsweɪn/ BOHT-swayn), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss.."

Recall the recent dialogue in the sync stream of the word Bow (Bo's).
Also interestingly the yellow bird wearing a yellow hat talking on
the phone, in Dr. Seuss's book
One fish, two fish red fish blue fish.

In that book, recall the mouse 'cutting the cable/wire to the phone.
Recall my comments about what I believe
the significance of the phone being the Phoenix and
serving as a portal.

When a cable/wire(communication) is cut off, it's essentially anchoring
us and not giving us access to the 'see/sea',
which is the WHY behind ghosting someone in social media.

The flow of communication (from a vast spectrum of
ideologies: the good, the bad and the ugly )
is essential for growth/ transformation and movement/progress, for
both the sender and the receiver.

In One fish, two fish, the mouse cutting the cable/wire is cutting off Yellow bird's
communication, which as in the Matrix, having the ability to move in and out
of two worlds (through the phone) is powerful.

From etymology:
cable (n)
"Technically, in nautical use, a rope 10 or more inches around,
to hold the ship when at anchor;

Another interesting puzzle piece regarding Ringo is this: Ringo also
sung on the song Octopus's Garden.

Of course this puzzle piece about the Octopus connects to my recent comments about:
'Spectre, 8 Arms to Hold You (the original working title for the movie Help),
and the 8-point STAR of Ishtar/Union Jack syns.

Interestingly Ringo is also a STARR.

As you well know the beatle(insect) is also a scarab.
Both BEE-tles and scarabs having ties with the Sun especially
in Egypt having connections to RA.

Of course, the BEE is yellow and black (light/sun and dark/night)

Being a Huge Beatles fan myself, and knowing most all of the lyrics
to The Beatles' songs by heart, I can attest to the fact
that there are many Beatle songs with references in the lyrics
to the sun or have the word Sun in the title of the song.( see link )

And last but not least and speaking of Simon and Garfunkel,
Simon and Garfunkel wrote an interesting song about the SIRIUSLY HOT SUN titled;
The Sun is Burning.
~~~~~~

Everything is connected.


The Beatles - Yellow Submarine ( note the symbolic connection of the Beatles
looking out of the portals)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2uTFF_3MaA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus%27s_Garden

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarabaeidae

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/streetmouse/another_sunny_day_%E2%80%A6_beatles_songs_that_mention_the_sun_and_sunshine_/

Simon and Garfunkel - The Sun Is Burning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC_KdZ1i63k&t=4s

Ra1119bee said...


William,

And speaking of REDS (Rubies) and yellow and Phoenix'es
and submarines and Falling down, and the 77th Merdian West,
check out what's going 'down' now on the World Stage.

copy and paste :
"The Russian submarine that just showed up off of Cuba is one of a new class
of subs that has worried the US and NATO for years".
~~~~~~~

And although NOT a yellow submarine, metaphorically Russia's sub is RED.

I found this verse of Yellow Submarine interesting:

"And our friends are all aboard
Many more of them live next door
And the band begins to play"
~~~~~~~

IMHO, this new event begs the question(at least to me) ; WHY?
and more importantly WHY now?

Oh, and Cuba just coincidently happens to be on the 77th Meridian West.
Cuba's actual longitude is 80, but do factor in the law of three.

Recall my many comments and perspective about the 77 Meridian West and John
Dee and The New Atlantis.

Puzzle pieces clickin' in everywhere these days, no?
'Dem syncs Faires be busy.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-russian-submarine-that-just-showed-up-off-of-cuba-is-one-of-a-new-class-of-subs-that-has-worried-the-us-and-nato-for-years/ar-BB1o6MRN?ocid=BingNewsSerp


Cuba says Russian nuclear sub to dock in Havana next week • FRANCE 24 English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMO3SF0JRBA

The 77th Meridian - Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDa7jKhAlDg

Sabbatical notice

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