Orange blossom

03.09.2015
dessin de fleur de jardin 0133 oranger - citrus aurantium

The bitter orange tree is a wanderer that has been sailing from civilization to civilization since the beginning of trading and wars. Its orange blossom comes from so far and from so long ago that its origins are lost in the myths. Better to turn to a poet:

 

Flower of storm, orange blossom,
I’m afraid of night, I’m afraid of danger
Orange blossom, flower of storm,
I’m afraid of night, frightened of marriage.
Flower of storm, orange blossom,
Flower of storm.

 

Fleur d’orage et fleur d’oranger,
J’ai peur de la nuit, j’ai peur du danger.
Fleur d’oranger et fleur d’orage,
J’ai peur de la nuit et du mariage.
Fleur d’orage et fleur d’oranger,
Fleur d’orage.

Robert Desnos (author of the book of poems Chantefleurs which this poem is taken from) was born last century and died in a concentration camp. “It’s not poetry that must be freed, but the poet who must be free” are his words as he committed himself to the French Resistance. He died of typhoid which he caught just after the camp’s liberation, 8 June 1945.